The relevance of honour in a dilapidated generation
The relevance of Honour in a dilapidated generation.
“There is a generation that curseth their father, and doth not bless their mother.
There is a generation that is in their own eyes and yet is not washed from their filthiness. There is a generation, O how lofty are their eyes! and their eyelids are lifted.
There is a generation, whose teeth are as swords, and their jaw teeth as knives, to devour the poor from off the earth, and the needy from among men.” – Proverbs 30:11-14.
This generation can be likened to the one described above.
Without an iota of doubt, our world today has been emblazoned with great moral decadence. Daily, weekly, monthly and almost secondly, there is a lot of awful news that greets you in the media spaces to great dismay. What can we make of the rounds of incessant killings, sexual escapades, thefts and robberies, greed etc. all around the world?
The reason for these anomalies are not far fetched, this generation has gained notoriety for celebrating evil instead of good. Hence, actions/inactions that promote evil have increased tremendously and in the process, the values that promote morality and goodness have been washed in a quagmire giving way to delusional values. It is a pitiable case and the victims of these cruelties are young chaps, who are the supposed “hope of tomorrow” in any society.
Honour is one of the age-old values that promote the peacefulness and progress of any nation. It was once a sacred value but now it appears to be old-fashioned in this generation. Even in scenarios where people exhibit honour, most times it’s an act rendered through eye service with ulterior motives underlying it.
Dishonour has become the order of the day, especially among the young ones because of the “unrestricted freedom” social media has granted to the young and old, literate and illiterate etc.
Under the guise of “informed” knowledge of human rights, many young persons especially have gone ahead to disrespect elders and even their mates. The elders aren’t left out as most still abuse the power of the media to abuse many young persons. It is such an awful state and the repercussions are witnessed constantly in different degrees all over the world.
Can you agree with me that there needs to be a stop to all of this? I believe, you certainly do.
What is Honour?
The Oxford Dictionary defines honour as
great respect and admiration for somebody. It also describes honour as the quality of knowing and doing what is morally right.
In essence, every mortal has that instinct in them to show honour. Honour is associated with respect, a tendency that is the default in every person.
There are two forms of honour and different categories of persons whom you should honour.
God’s Honour:
God, the creator of mankind honours you so much. Have you realized that in your life?
He has great respect and admiration for the man He has created because man is created in His image. As a result, God has bestowed such great honour upon man by conveying His peculiar attributes to man. Those who enjoy this form of honour especially are those whose ways are right before Him, love Him and obey Him at all times.
What a great privilege! Unfortunately, many abuse this privilege because of ignorance and a lack of understanding.
“Man that is in honour, and understandeth it not like the beasts that perish.” (Psalms 49:20).
Man’s Honour:
This is the act of respect that is conveyed by man to His fellow man and even God. This form of honour is exhibited in different manners and it is a requisite for great relationships on the Earth. It is what provokes people to bless you beyond your imagination.
There are four specific categories of people you should honour.
God.
God has bestowed the honour on you as a man, it is worthy to reciprocate such to Him. If you continually honour God, he will constantly honour you (1 Sam 12:30a).
He deserves our honour because He is our creator, Saviour, Lord, Friend, Father etc. God is pleased when we honour Him through maintaining a cordial and holy relationship with Him, obeying and doing His will all the time. God goes out of His way to ensure that the man who honours him is not left destitute.
Parents.
Your parents are in the stead of God to you. They are responsible for your existence today and therefore deserve every honour.
It is sad, that many people despise their parents today and would rather defraud them instead of blessing them. There is a blessing of long life attached to honouring your parents.
Your parents are those who are responsible for caring for you, not necessarily biological.
Unnecessary hardships and difficulties are being experienced today by young people because they have neglected this truth.
Elders.
Have you read “Thou shall stand up before the hoary head”? It is in the Bible, you can search the scripture out.
Their hoary head is symbolic of the wealth of experiences they have accumulated, thus are in a more advantageous position.
Elders in any society include leaders, (political, religious, educational, vocational etc.), mentors, coaches, teachers etc. Anyone who is above you and gained experience ahead of you is an elder to you, age is not necessarily a factor to consider in this context.
The level of honour you communicate to your elders determine the proportionate increment in growth you will attain because you have the access to glean from their wealth of experiences according to how you honour them.
Mates:
Statements like ” Do you know who I am?” I am not your mate” etc. have deprived a lot of blessings to some persons.
You must understand that notwithstanding any level you attain in life, you must always have a mate. Age mate(within your age group), classmate, workmate etc.
Honour your mates because no man is an island. At some point in life, you may require the help of your mates. Beyond that, when you honour your mates, you will attract the blessings in their lives that may be eluding you.
There is another important set of persons you must communicate honour to, those who are below you. Man is inclined to arrogate and despise those who are not consequential to them.
However, it should not be so. Most times, people have been blessed by those who seem to have nothing to offer them.
Besides, the world is in cycles and purely there are not permanent conditions. Always bear in mind that those who are below today can be above tomorrow.
Honour has an invisible twin attached to it, Favour. Honour and Favour are “Siamese twins” and it is impossible to separate them. This is the law of reciprocity that governs the act of honorarium. When you honour people, bear in mind that you are activating doors of Favour. It may not manifest immediately but by that unchanging law, Favour is bound to be attracted to you for communicating honour to whatever degree you do it.
When you show honour, you gain Favour with God and man. According to Apostle Joshua Selman, “No man has a vaccination against honour” even God doesn’t as long as it is done with the right motives.
Honour should not become an obligation to you, rather a lifestyle. Show honour to people by rendering valuable services to them, promote their affairs, business and services, give even from the little you have etc.
The story of this haughty generation can be rewritten to a great extent positively if this practice of true honour can be reinstated. It starts with the decision to “Be the change you want to see in the world.”
By: Caleb Elochukwu.
