Making the decision to honor in areas of offense

  The last day of Powerhouse Summerfest was awesome! Worship was insanely great and on top of that, we had a techno rave party that was CRAZY along with a heavy metal band called “The Chariot” which rocked the roof off of our church. Sometimes I wish I had enough guts to jump into a mosh pit but I know I would get absolutely destroyed if that ever happened haha! (and I’m sure I’d break a toe or something considering that I wouldn’t be wearing closed-toed shoes but rather my good and faithful Chacos; aka: my Jesus sandals :-)

Out of the various talks on Friday my favorite came from Hillsong City campus pastor Chrishan who gave an unbelievable message about honor.  Chrishan pointed out how easy it is to become offended by the people we were so amazed by; it’s easy to grow an attitude of offense towards people. We need to learn to honor what we’ve grown familiar with (so good!!!)

How true is this statement! I can’t even begin to count the number of people that I have placed on pedestals or have had high expectations for only to be let down or disappointed once I realized that they’re broken just like me. We’ve all done it; it’s part of our human nature. The challenge here isn’t to stop placing people on pedestals but rather, to change how you respond to someone once you see that they aren’t who you thought they were. What do you do in that situation? Do you run? Do you cut them out of your life? Do you begin to talk bad about them? It’s funny how fast the pendulum swings once the junk in other people’s lives come out. Now instead of being amazed by your preconceived notions towards an individual, you are not only let down by these expectations, but now this person’s behavior OFFENDS YOU! It actually bothers you and causes you to become bitter or resentful and even pissed that you ever thought differently towards them. Clearly this is bad! But I must confess, the reason why this talk was so influential for me was because there were people in my life that I was wearing offense from.

So how do we get out of this cycle of having expectations for people only to be let down over and over again? Chrishan made an excellent point by saying that we need to adopt an attitude that seeks TO honor; not to BE honored. Wow. How freaking humbling is this!?! This statement is literally the opposite of how my flesh is designed. But isn’t that the beauty of the gospel; it takes the standard by which we measure the world and ourselves and flips it upside down. Imagine the change that would occur in your life if your heart really got this. Imagine what kind of freedom you would walk in if your thoughts, actions, and energy were focused in a way to honor OTHERS instead of seeking honor for yourself. Scripture is clear that we are called to take on the nature of a servant. Jesus repeatedly challenged his disciple to not be concerned with titles or positions but to humble yourself and that the Lord would lift you up in due time.

So how do you honor all people?

You search for the gold in someone and put weight on that. Honor = putting weight on something

Ø  Even in the midst of discovering the insecurities in people make the decision to honor.

o   If you choose the path of dishonor the only person who will be damaged is you

Ø  Maturity = the ability to honor AFTER you see how fallible and insecure people are

Ø  Decide to honor for every reason there is to dishonor

Ø  When we fail to honor people we aren’t allowing God to use us to work in other people’s lives. We are robbing ourselves

Ø  We can honor others with…..our possessions, words, actions, and heart

Ø  When we honor we bring back wonder and amazement in areas that were once full of offense

Ø  Luke 14:7—parable of the wedding feast; take the lowest place so you can be esteemed and not humbled

Anywho, hope you enjoyed this blog and were challenged by some of the points. I know for me, I’ve been challenged just by revisiting this talk.