Humility comes before honor

Proverbs 15:33 (NLT)

The fear of the Lord is discipline leading to wisdom, and humility comes before honor.

Honor is used to describe bravery in war, to give tribute to someone for their contributions, and to acknowledge a person in authority (A judge is addressed as “Your honor”).  Honor is a very positive word, a very positive description of someone, a word not used that often.  Honor also suggests contributions and accomplishments performed over time.  Except for an act of bravery, honor is not bestowed on someone over what happened during a short period of time.  Honor is bestowed on someone who has lived an exemplary life that deserves recognition. 

Honor is emphasized in the Bible.  You are to honor your parents (Exodus 20:12).  You are to honor marriage (Heb 13:4).  You are to honor the aged (Lev 19:32).  Jesus spoke of honor although in a negative context.  For example, in Matt 6:2, He condemned hypocrites for giving publicly so that they would be honored by men.  This certainly is not an act of humility.  He said that a prophet is not honored in his own hometown and by his family (Matt 13:57).  That’s always been an intriguing image although perhaps fits the modern adage, “familiarity breeds contempt”.  He condemned hypocrites again in Matt 15:8 where He quote Isa 29:12---“This people honors Me with their lips but their heart is far away from Me”.

The Bible is quite clear that honor correlates with humility.  Jesus’ views certainly showed that honor does not fit a hypocrite nor will people honor someone that they suspect is a hypocrite (Matt 13:57).  Honor results from humility displayed via many acts of selflessness, of self-denial and putting others first.  Proverbs 22:4 says, “The reward of humility and the fear of the Lord are riches, honor, and life.  Humility and fear of the Lord go hand in hand.  Indeed, I Peter 5:5 affirms that God is opposed to the proud, but gives grace to the humble.  Those who we watch on TV and read about who promote themselves to the point of narcissism, have egos and greed out of control, and believe that they are superior to others are not living biblical lives and are not going to be honored by God.  Their honor may be temporary, but for the truly humble individual, his/her honor is eternal.  

Do you want to be honored for the life you live?  If you do, now you know what you need to do and be---humble.  Easier said than done.  Humility requires complete unselfishness.  You need to consider others as more important than yourself (Phil 2:3).  You must never promote yourself (Psalm 75:4-7, Prov 27:2).  And you must be on guard against thinking of yourself as humble because that very thought alone verifies that you are not.