The Joy of Showing Honour

When was the last time you were a part of a Canadian Standoff? Where you offered to hold a door, give up the last seat on a bus, or the last slice of pie only to have it offered back to you? Why did you offer these things?

For some it might be an obligation or a sense of honour. For many, I think it is a small example of the attitude that Paul asks us to have towards others in these verses.

If you watch young children, it is very clear that this behaviour is not natural. This self-sacrificing attitude is caught and taught. For the people in the churches of Rome and Philippi during the Apostle Paul’s time, they needed to be taught.

There is a big word we use to explain how God transforms our nature to heal our brokenness and make us more whole as we journey as followers of Jesus: Sanctification. We are transformed through the power of the Holy Spirit to become more like Jesus who “...made himself nothing, taking the form of a servant...he humbled himself by becoming obedient to the point of death...” (Philippians 2:7-8). Sanctification means that rather than having to force ourselves to put others first in joyful service, God transforms our character to be more like His Son’s. Showing honour to others becomes a natural joy in our lives as a way of sharing the love that God has shared with us.

As an expression of gratitude to Jesus, who put us first, how can you intentionally put yourself second behind someone else in your life today?