honorHonor isn’t a word we use much today. It’s a shame. There’s a lot wrapped up in that word. Click the more link in the definition box to see what we mean. For the purposes of this blog post, honor means we do things that show high esteem for God and for those around us. Simple, right?

Honor

ˈänər/

noun

  1. high respect; esteem.

    “his portrait hangs in the place of honor”

    adherence to what is right or to a conventional standard of conduct.

verb

  1. regard with great respect.

    “Joyce has now learned to honor her father’s memory”

more…

Not really. Brett was recently asked about how we measure success at New Life. His answer? Are people loving more like Christ. How do we love more like Christ? Let’s start by asking how Christ loved.

Christ gave up His position in Heaven to become a baby, grow through adolescence into manhood where people would mock Him and scoff at His claims to be God. Ultimately He died or horrible death suffering not only physically but carrying the burden of our sins. I don’t know about you but I don’t think that’s a standard I can live up to.

What I can do is consider the Golden Rule and treat others the way we’d like to be treated. Sounds easy enough considering I like most of the people I hang around. It’s pretty easy to be kind to them. But remember, when Christ answered the question about who we should love He answered everyone… even those we despise. Basically He said we should act loving even when we don’t feel loving.

Now that’s getting harder. I need to act loving toward my kid even when he throws a baseball and puts a huge dent in the door. I need to act loving toward my spouse even when they forget to record the big game on the DVR. I need to act loving toward my neighbor who lets his dogs bark all through the night. Fill in your own “tough to love” situation here.

The point is I can love people better than I am now. I can become more loving, more sacrificial, more forgiving, more thoughtful, more caring, more… well, you get the idea.

During a recent message Brett also challenged us to honor God by honoring New Life and the nZone. We do that by always speaking kind publicly. We do that by picking up trash we see as we are walking in from our car. We do that by meeting our neighbors at the front door rather than making them navigate their way through our facility on their own. Basically we honor both God and New Life when we realize everything we do as individuals and as a church reflects on God and demonstrates our desire to give him our best.