We esteem people who are awarded the Medal of Honor—those who’ve gone beyond the call of duty, often at the expense of their lives.
We honor people who sacrifice themselves for others by giving them awards like the Nobel Peace Prize, TIME Person of the Year, and Heisman Trophy among many other accolades. These awards represent their hard work, sacrifice, and contributions toward the good of mankind or the success of their endeavors.
The term “honor” calls attention to people who’ve given their lives for others without calling attention to themselves. When a person sacrifices greatly for others, we believe they deserve to be honored because they’ve gone against their natural inclination to protect “self.”
Now, let’s look at honor from God’s perspective. Our Lord makes an eternal promise to those who honor Christ Jesus: ...He who honors Me, I will honor (1 Samuel 2:30).
He promises to honor those who build their lives on earth around His ways for all of eternity. This verse trumps all the books, videos, and lectures on living a happy and successful life that tempt us to seek respect in this temporary state. We’re called to live for what lasts forever.
Each person has DNA implanted within their soul that yearns for meaning and significance. Each person—believer or unbeliever—longs for his or her life to matter. We all want our lives to be important in some way.
For the Christ follower, there’s a simple equation for living a life of meaning. Jesus tells us that the person who serves Him will be honored by the Father (John 12:26).
So what does it mean to “honor Jesus”?
I believe this is one of the most important attitudes and passions of our Christian lives.
When we honor Jesus in everything, we hold Him at the highest esteem. We show the world that we respect His life and death, and are motivated by His love for the Father and service to others to leave a legacy of obedience to Christ’s commands.
We obey Him because we respect, esteem, worship, follow, and believe that He alone can give ultimate meaning and significance to our lives.
Jesus is the “why” behind our existence and when we live out honoring Him—albeit imperfectly—the Father honors us. God rejoices to call the names of those who have “fought the good fight of faith.”
May each of us cry out to the living God to grace us with a driving passion to “honor Jesus” in all that we do, say, and think… for the glory of the Father.