Honoring Others in Business and In Life

“If you are wise and understand God’s ways, prove it by living an honorable life, doing good works with the humility that comes from wisdom.” -James 3:13

“Do unto others as you would have them do unto you.” Ah, the golden rule.  It seems so simple, and yet due to our humanness, woundedness, (and as evidenced by human history), we have the hardest time following the golden rule and honoring others.  The self always wants to be promoted, seen & heard.

There was a season in my life during a Bible college I was attending where I was learning all about service. We were asked to do a lot of service-related activities as a part of our Bible college training.  Looking back I really appreciate this, because in order to be promoted in life, we must learn to serve and honor those around us!  We never graduate from serving. Our responsibility to serve grows as God finds us faithful with a little. We serve others knowing that we are really serving God.

“Pride ends in humiliation, while humility brings honor.” -Proverbs 29:23

There are a lot of examples of dis-honor in our culture.  Can you think of any? Honoring others has become counter-culture.  However there are cultures where honor is highly esteemed.  The Japanese culture is one. That may be why they have the highest life expectancy!  (Eph 6:2&3)

Honoring those around us may mean letting them go first when the opportunity arises.  It may mean opening a door for someone, being respectful, and not cutting in on a conversation.  It may mean listening better, not trying to get our own way, but giving someone else the right of way.  It may mean putting our own feelings and aspirations aside for the benefit of someone else.  In the end, we have to realize that it’s not about us.  It’s about others.

What could you do to honor someone else today?