FOR YEARS, I taught that the opposite of honor is dishonor, but that’s not true. Dishonor is simply the offspring of something more cancerous to our lifestyle and livelihood than we can ever imagine. The mother of dishonor is self-honor. When self-honor is alive, we will dishonor God, the Word, and the Holy Spirit. We’ll dishonor our mother and our father. We’ll dishonor our spouse. It’s impossible to honor others in life when our primary goal is to honor ourselves. When self sits on the throne, everyone else becomes insignificant.
The first display of self-honor appears in Isaiah 14:12–15, with Lucifer’s fall. He was the third-highest angelic force in Heaven, alongside Gabriel and Michael. Each one of them had a third of the angels assigned to them. And yet we see a deterioration in Lucifer’s service and attitude toward God. With his angels, he actually set out to rebel against God through war. Because of the desire to self-honor, he became dishonorable to God and therefore unusable by Him. Lucifer endeavored to honor himself and failed to obtain honor altogether.
Jesus exemplifies that to be honored, we have to strip ourselves of any desire to self-promote. We must let go of our own words, thoughts, and ideas, and instead embrace God’s ideas. Jesus, our Savior, stripped Himself of all His heavenly dignity and all of His heavenly power, and became as a man.
In Philippians 2:8–9, Paul writes that when Jesus was “found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross. Wherefore God also hath highly exalted him, and given him a name which is above every name.” Jesus obtained honor by stripping Himself of His own personal desires. He submitted Himself completely to His Father and remained continually available to the Spirit of God. He emptied Himself and became a vessel.
So here we have an individual, Jesus, who was going to live for God, whether He was honored or not. Then we have another individual, Lucifer, whose only goal was to be honored, recognized, and seen. One obtained honor, while the other came dreadfully short of it. This gives us some insight into the dangers of promoting our opinions and ways over God’s Word and His ways.
I’ve come to notice that in Galatians 5:19–21, the works of the flesh are simply a manifestation of self-honor. These behaviors are produced when we honor our flesh: our ways, desires, and pursuits.
No clearer do we see the pull of dishonor than in the workplace. We must not honor self on the job. When we do, we’re actually pushing people toward hell more than we can imagine. In 1 Timothy 6:1 and Titus 2:9–10, Paul writes that our conduct on the job can either push people away from desiring a relationship with God or make a relationship with Him look attractive. When we’re not functioning properly within God’s design, we’re dishonoring the Designer. We are to exert as much effort when we’re not being watched as when we are. A God-honoring person works steadfastly no matter what.
The opposite of fleshly, self-focused behaviors are the works of the Spirit. Every one of the godly fruits listed in Galatians 5:22 brings honor to God. Why? Because when we walk in love, we’re honoring God. When we’re long-suffering toward an individual, we’re honoring God. When we are gentle toward an individual who doesn’t deserve it, we’re honoring God.
The point of the matter is simply this. Ecclesiastes 12:13 says, “Let us hear the conclusion of the whole matter: Fear God, and keep his commandments: for this is the whole duty of man.” Find out what the Word says about how you are to function in the positions you’re in. Then say, “Father, not my will, but Thine be done.”
Strip yourself of your personal ambitions, desires, and opinions, thinking, “Well, I deserve this.” Let it be done with the Word of God. Let’s honor Him with the Word throughout our lives.
Doug Jones
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Doug Jones
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