What Does It Look Like? - Timeless Honor

What Does it Look Like? - Timeless Honor

LYING BY OMISSION. Skirting the rules. Shirking our responsibilities. Failing to admit fault. These are just a few of the more benign characteristics of a disgraceful life we have seen modeled for us. Disgrace—yes, we’ve seen it. But honor? Do we know what it looks like?

I once heard General Colin Powell speak about his concern for our country and our role on the world stage. As he discussed this topic and other societal issues, he said that bringing dishonor to his family was not an option. He and his cousins were raised with the concept that disgrace is not a personal thing; it’s a family matter. That got me thinking: how do you instill the concept of honor in a child?

You’ve read about the struggles we’ve experienced with our son, Scott. I can be honest after twenty-eight years of denial. Disgrace pretty much summed up the situation. Today, he’s working hard to right his course, but as for the concept of honor, until just recently, I don’t think he had a clue.

On the flip side, our daughter, Shauna, was born a truth-teller. I would just crack up at the things she would volunteer; at the innocent age of three, she would “fess up” just to get those sins off her chest! She was born a person of integrity; I didn’t teach her that, any more than I taught Scott to lie. I can no more take credit for the honorable life and high moral standards our daughter lives by than I can shoulder the blame for our son’s failure to live by a code of ethics. But did I miss something in my own personal modeling and explanations of expectation when it comes to honor? I think maybe I did.

You see, I know exactly what honor looks like. Honor sat at the dining room table with me celebrating his eightieth birthday last month. There, in flesh and blood, was a man of profound integrity. My second cousin Jerry and his wife of fifty-six years have lived a life of such dignity that I was literally bursting with pride at the mere thought of being related to them. And let me tell you, their example of a life without compromise has worked—you should meet their two sons, their spouses, and their grandchildren; they are absolutely amazing people of character. But this isn’t an anomaly; the two preceding generations of the Wilson family lived equally honorable lives. I think that we should turn the whole clan into a lab test so we can study them in order to repeat this success of generations of exceptional human beings. Do you know a family like this? If so, you know what I’m talking about. This is not the rule in our society today but the rare exception.

Then the way you live will always honor and please the Lord, and your lives will produce every kind of good fruit. All the while, you will grow as you learn to know God better and better. (Colossians 1:10)

My question for all of us is this: how can we create honorable families?