Treating Everyone with Honor, Part 2
“What is man that You are mindful of him, And the son of man that You visit him? For You have made him a little lower than the angels, And You have crowned him with glory and honor.”
Psalm 8:4-5 (NKJV)
When you consider the sad state of humanity and the mess we have made of our world, you may ask the same question the Psalmist asked in Psalm 8:4a (NKJV), “What is man that You are mindful of him?” The Bible says that God created us and put us on this planet to reflect His glory and image. Yet, we went our own way; we rebelled against Him, and created a culture of dishonor, hate, disease and death. Why would God be mindful of man today? Why wouldn’t He just wipe us out and start over? This Psalm tells us why. It’s because God has crowned us with His glory and honor, not because of what we have become apart from Him but who we may become in Him - the glory and honor of being created by God that we may be inhabited by God, the Creator once again restored in His creation. As Pastor and author, Warren Wiersbe points out, “Instead of humans being ‘a little higher than animals,’ as science believes, they are actually ‘a little lower than God.’ The word for “angels” in this passage is really “Elohim” in Hebrew and can mean angelic creatures, but here it definitely means ‘God.’” In fact, one translation puts it like this in the TEV, “Yet You made them inferior only to Yourself; You crowned them with glory and honor.” Imagine it, we were created to be co-regents with God in His creation. And the Bible says that one day Christ followers will rule and reign with Him judging the angels!
All this answers the question why we should honor everyone. We should honor everyone because God created everyone and because God created everyone, we should not look down on anyone. This means we are all of equal value in His eyes, whether a billionaire or a beggar on the street. Each of us were made by God. If our lives are sacred to Him, we should treat everyone with honor. He made you and clothed you with dignity. He sees your value and the potential of all you can become in Him. Do you see others like that? Do you treat others like that? You may think, “If they deserve it, I do.” How can we treat others with honor when we think they don’t deserve it? Jesus tells us in Matthew 25:40 (NIV) when He said, “Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one of the least of these brothers and sisters of Mine, you did for Me.” If you read that passage in its context, you find the story where Jesus said, “For I was hungry, and you fed Me. I was thirsty, and you gave Me a drink. I was a stranger, and you invited Me into your home. I was naked, and you gave Me clothing. I was sick, and you cared for Me. I was in prison, and you visited Me.” Matthew 25:35-36 (NLT) For most of us, these are often the “invisible people.” Maybe you’ve felt like that as well, marginalized, left out, and overlooked. You may feel invisible to those around you, but you’re not invisible to God. You have value and honor.
Here's the point: We treat others with honor when we treat them like we would Jesus. Do you treat the forgotten, the poor, and the ignored with value and honor? This is the call for every Christ follower and what makes the church so different in our culture. How do we do that? Look deeper and see someone for whom Christ died. When you and I do that, we will love like Jesus. When we don’t look deeper, we don’t treat them with the respect and honor they deserve. We need the same mercy God extended to us to treat everyone with honor. Titus 3:4-5 (NLT) says, “When God our Savior revealed His kindness and love, He saved us, not because of the righteous things we had done, but because of His mercy. He washed away our sins, giving us a new birth and new life through the Holy Spirit.”
When we judge others who are living in sin, we forget how much God has forgiven us. We need to remember God has forgiven us and that they simply don’t know Jesus yet. Look deeper and see someone for whom Christ died. And just like you, they are carrying a hidden hurt they’re dealing with. When we realize this our perspective changes and we can treat them with honor.
Tomorrow we’ll discover two other reasons to treat everyone with honor that the Bible gives us in Titus 3.