Honour Others

Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself

(Philippians 2:3, NKJV)

All human beings on earth, you and I included, were born of other human beings, a mother and a father.  Each living thing carries a seed which is similar to itself and that is why an orange tree produces orange fruits which carry seeds in them for more oranges.  We will not find an orange fruit growing from a banana plant, an orange tree produces oranges and banana plants will produce bananas.  This applies to all plants that we know and the same is also true of all animals and human beings, each produces according to its own kind (Genesis 1:12), and God the creator saw this was good.  I say all this to remind us that all human beings are from other human beings and this gives us a point of connection with each other.  In light of the message of creation, the beginning of the human race is in Adam and Eve.  That my brethren tells me that we are all brothers and sisters with a common heritage going back to our bible parents.  It does not matter where we live or what we do and the physical differences that we see when we look at each other, we all have the same internal organs and structure, all of us have red blood in our veins and we all have hearts that hurt and rejoice.  I know this is not news to us but it reminds us that what binds us together is stronger and more true than what sets us apart, we share a heritage.  As a people, we seem to have ignored what is deeply true and majored on the differences which are but on the surface.  

Beloved, I am inviting us to look at each other as people of value just as we consider ourselves of value.  Our reference verse reminds us to esteem others and avoid selfish ambitions.  Most of the problems that individuals have with others, often comes from our perception that others are not as worthy as we are.  If for no other reason but the fact that we are a creation of God as our Father, I plead with you my brethren that we give each other a sense of value and honour.  Jesus speaking of the greatest commandments, He explained that the first is to love the Lord our God and the second is to love others as we love ourselves (Matthew 22:38-39).  Our relationship with God and fellow men is premised on love.  While our love for God is best known by Him and others can only decipher that we love God by our lives, our love for others is more clearly seen by how we treat them.  Reflecting on this fact, one is drawn to look at the inhuman and insulting treatment of each other in our communities.  The search for individualism and “my space” has led many to violate the rights of others in the name of actualizing their own perceived rights.  We are living in days when we have devalued human life and treated others as objects.  Regardless of the argument or justification one would want to give, the word of God remains unchanged, we are to love one another and treat each with respect and honour knowing that they too are a mirror of who we are, we are each other’s keeper.

Beloved, when we accept that if we love God as most of us would say, we must obey His word, then we will realize that we cannot we cannot love God when we do not love our neighbours.  Loving our neighbour is our act of obedience directed by our love for God.  The bible reminds us that we are liars if we say that we love God but hate our brothers whom we have seen (1 John 4:20-21).  This is a direct indictment on our self-righteousness which at times blinds us from the reality of how God sees us.  Others might not know that we hate our brethren but this is not hidden from God who sees our hearts and His word does not sugar-coat the fallen nature of our hearts, after all He searches the heart (1 Samuel 16:7).  It is no wonder that David prayed for a clean heart and a right spirit, one that is in line with the will of God for him (Psalm 51:10).  Just before Jesus left, He reminded His disciples that they should love others just as He had always loved them.  He said that it is by their love for one another that others will know them as His disciples (John 13:34-35).  Beloved, though we live in a fallen and ruthless world, the commandment to love others has not changed, we are differentiated from the world by our love. May we be challenged to live in love.

 Thoughts:

How does your heart measure up in love?

How have you shown value to others?

Do you need to deliberately increase your love?

what is stopping you from genuinely loving others?