Filed under: Thoughts
1 Peter 2:13-17…
So being a Malaysian; I am very intrigued by the appearance of democracy in our country’s last election, which was held just last Saturday. The opposition party (which in my childhood meant nothing but old Chinese men) seemed to have garnered enough support to be treated seriously.
I have also been thinking about honour these few days and what is it to honour other men and what does the Bible say about it most importantly.
Of course, if you were brought up in a Christian family, you would probably be brainwashed to ‘Honour thy father and mother’ (Exodus 20:12); so that you may live long. But being a kid, the furthest thing from your mind would be dying… Note to self, do not use this verse as a ‘parenting tool’.
Anyway, I feel that most people do not honour the correct people in their lives nowadays. And even if they do, it might not be to the correct extent that its supposed to be or even in some cases, a complete waste of honour.
An immediate response is the supposed ‘honour’ of celebrities. Yes they might be good looking and possess a sharp mind for business but other than that, nothing else is worth honouring of them. Why shouldn’t we honour people who honour other people? An endless cycle of honour maybe… Like how we honour old people, or soldiers who have sacrificed life and limb, or hard-working people like waiters, waitresses, butlers, cashiers, the movie ticket person, the bus driver, cabbies? Oh while we’re at it, why not throw in the telemarketers as well?
I think Hilary Clinton touched on this issue when she raised the issue why should comfortable ‘financial analysts’ sit on their arse everyday, watching their stupid computer screens (worrying if their armpit sweat will stain their linen attire) and earn millions while the hard-working cab-driver devises a fine balance between a fair fare and a straight face while taking all sorts of hoots and toots from inner-city traffic? OK, I exaggerate…
And that of course brings us to the honour of the greatest bartering currency in human history… money. Is honour love? Honour they father and mother, love thy father and mother, the love of money is evil… the honour of money is evil… For where our treasure is, there our heart will be also… If we honour money above people, then there is a problem isn’t it? We chase money and leave people… What about embracing people and letting money chase you? Is there such a thing?
Is there a little principle tucked in somewhere where money and prosperity chases after you? I think so. So the obvious is tithing; which is ultimately an outward act of honouring God first, and His people… and His servants. I think tithing, in the ‘early days’ was used to pay for the holy people, full-time pastors if you may and that in turn enabled them to build the church of God in whatever way God leads them to…
But I don’t know… I just wanted to raise awareness about honour… Which in our daily lives makes way for empathy (an ability to feel what the other person feels) which makes way for politeness… Respect… dignity… Worthiness… Love… Storing and/or re-storing self-respect…
A sense that we share the world… That no-one person is better than the other… Naked we came into the world, naked we will go… That everyone deserves honour; from the rebellious hormone-raging, angry teenager to the docile Parkinson-riddled senior citizen to the meticulously dressed graphics designer, to the fingers bent computer programmer to the foul-mouthed homeless person to the fork-tongued politician to the on fire preacher to the relative you are most embarrassed of to your wife to your children…
No one needs dishonour.
God bless!
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Life is better than death. Love; greater than either... 
dude!! 30/4 to 4/5 Me in Sydney!! And we wanna go hillsong church 😛 MUST meet up!! Woohoo!!
Comment by thereflector 12 March, 2008 @ 1:37 pm