8 Words To Change Your Family: Honor Series

• For time with them and for all of the kids we have raised to be with Jesus.

• I already got mine (he told me he loved me).

• Home-made breakfast!!

• I…could not think of anything that really stood out. I think this is because all in all I am lucky to have the kids I do and don’t need anything else from them to show that they love and respect me. They do an above average job of that year round.

• Family cookout and swimming then...shhhhhhh...do u hear that? Shhhhh...that’s right it’s called quiet! Shhhhh.

When you put all this together, what all these dads are saying is that they’d like to be honored by their children.

Defining Honor

The word “honor” literally means a “heavy weight.” It implies that we assign the greatest possible weight to a person in terms of respect by holding them in “high regard.” To honor someone is to consider them to be weighty or heavy; to esteem and value our parents as precious. On the other hand, to “dishonor” means to treat someone as if they were “light or insignificant.” To honor is to treat with distinction; to dishonor is to treat them like dirt. To honor our parents is to give them the esteem that God does.

I like this definition from the Dictionary of Biblical Imagery: “To show honor entails an affective side (a feeling of respect or reverence) and a set of outward manifestations, such as gestures (bowing before or being attentive) or actions (conferring titles or privileges). All these ways of showing honor elevate the person that is honored.” We’re to show honor in both our attitudes and in our actions. To honor is to elevate and to esteem and to live out in experience.

In his book The Tribute and the Promise, Dennis Rainey writes: “Honoring your parents is an attitude accompanied by actions that says to your parents: ‘You are worthy. You have value. You are the person God sovereignly placed in my life. You may have failed me, hurt me, and disappointed me at times, but I’m taking off my judicial robe and releasing you from the courtroom of my mind.’”

I came across a simplified definition of honor from the book I referenced last week called, “Say Goodbye to Whining, Complaining, and Bad Attitudes in You and Your Kids.” I like it because I’m simple and I think it also captures the concept in a way that kids can understand and practice.

Treating people as special,

doing more than what’s expected,

and having a good attitude.

Here’s a homework assignment. Write this definition down and have each of your family members memorize it and then come back to it often as you live out your faith at home.

Learning to Honor

Please turn to Ephesians 6:2 and notice how it begins: “Honor your father and mother.” The emphasis here is on the attitude, not merely the act, of obedience. This quotation from the 5th Commandment describes a heart disposition. It deals with the way we obey.