Empty Honor

Empty Honor

In Gal. 5:26, Paul gives a clear and much-needed exhortation: “Let us not desire empty honor, provoking one another, envying one another.” [Norw.] Jesus says about Himself in John 5:41, “I do not receive honor from men.”

This desire for empty honor—honor from people—is probably one of the most common sins from which people suffer from a very young age. The fact that it is common does not make it any less serious! In the same chapter, Jesus says in verse 44, “How can you believe, who receive honor from one another, and do not seek the honor that comes from the only God?” Here, the seriousness really becomes apparent. If we live off honor from people and seek a good testimony from them, then according to Jesus’ words it is impossible to believe and thereby also impossible to make progress on the way of salvation!

It is perhaps easy to think that we are done with this sin, and it may also be that we are sufficiently “wise” that we manage to behave in such a way as to avoid the most gross or most “ridiculous” forms of this sin— doing such things where everyone can see and understand that now we are seeking honor. We can, for example, choose our words so that it sounds so “humble and pious.” But if we let the light of truth illuminate our thoughts, words, and deeds, we will quickly discover that unfortunately not everything is as pure and free from seeking honor as we would like to believe. The truth is that seeking honor is deeply ingrained in our nature and it manifests itself in many different “refined” forms: we enjoy thoughts of grandeur now and then, we are pleased when we are praised for something, we like to talk about things we have achieved, we wait to be mentioned publicly in an especially positive light, etc. etc. In fact, our way of thinking and behavior testify to a great extent that we are actually seeking honor of people.

Only the cross can completely free us from all this. This requires a zealous and wholehearted fight of faith, where we repeatedly say “NO!” when the temptation to receive honor arises. The glorious thing is that through faith we can also be completely freed from this sin, and instead God can begin to write more and more of His laws and commandments in our hearts and minds. Just consider, for example, the exhortation in Rom. 12:10: “In honor giving preference to one another.” What a contrast to having this desire for empty honor. God can perform such a miracle in a wretched human being. We can be transformed from being bound and permeated by the desire for empty honor, so that we instead get a desire to honor one another. Praise God for such a work of faith!

John 12:24-26: “Most assuredly, I say to you, unless a grain of wheat falls into the ground and dies, it remains alone; but if it dies, it produces much grain. He who loves his life will lose it, and he who hates his life in this world will keep it for eternal life. If anyone serves Me, let him follow Me; and where I am, there My servant will be also. If anyone serves Me, him My Father will honor.”

This is completely hidden from someone who has not become a disciple. Let us pray for enlightened eyes so that we who have become disciples can see to a much greater extent the glory of following Jesus in hating ourselves according to the flesh and becoming a grain of wheat! For the natural man, such a life is “madness.” A grain of wheat lies in the ground and dies. There is not much to see and boast about in a rotting grain of wheat. . . Down there under the ground there is not much empty honor to be had from people. But it is precisely such a grain of wheat that the Father will honor, and that must be enough for us for eternity!