PRACTICE ‘HONOR’ AND LIVE WELL
When I was growing up, my parents taught us the 10 commandments over and over again until they were etched on our hearts. I could recite all of them word-for-word but I didn’t know what the 5th commandment meant in principle: “Honor your father and your mother, so that you may live long in the land the Lord your God is giving you,”- Exodus 20:12.
Then we started getting teachings on honor at our church and I finally understood.
One of the most eye-opening things that our lead pastor always says about honor is that to receive anything from a person above you, you must humble yourself and lower your cup so that either you get the overflow or the person pours into your cup. The cups cannot be placed at the same level.
Before this revelation, I had been struggling with 2 things; submitting to, and honoring my spouse and honoring my biological parents. I was a grownup so I looked at these people as my equals whereas the bible says something different.
Once my understanding changed, I decided to act immediately, starting with my parents. The instruction from the teachings was: ‘Honor your parents with your possessions.’ I started giving them money every month after tithing. It worked wonders immediately. Conversations with my parents before that were highly strained; I couldn’t say anything to them without feeling misunderstood. I thought I was right all the time. The arguments stopped immediately and today after 3years of intentional honor, I enjoy a great relationship with my parents.
When you choose to honor your parents, Deuteronomy 5:16 says that it will go well with you. I have experienced this first hand!
The second thing I did was to change the way I interacted with my husband. Newbold is a peaceful human being, but I would pick fights with him all the time. The day I decided to stop looking at him as an equal and started submitting to him, everything changed for the better. Today we enjoy a great relationship and I have found endless peace and joy in our marriage.
To show honor to your spouse is to be his or her biggest fan. It’s to be a husband who puts his wife before himself in everything. It’s to be a wife who doesn’t speak disrespectfully and who shows admiration for her husband’s good qualities.
Honor doesn’t belittle or criticize. Honor builds up and doesn’t tear down.
Deciding to honor the people above me: my parents, my husband, my leaders at work and at church… has brought has brought me massive results especially in my spiritual life and I would recommend it on any given day.
