John 8:54 Jesus answered, If I honour myself, my honour is nothing: it is my Father that honoureth me; of whom ye say, that he is your God:
The word honour is misunderstood as to glorify; one can glorify oneself, but not honour oneself. In English, the word honour means to respect, to have esteem. It can be used as a verb, noun or even adjective. Its rendering changes as a verb, as a noun and as an adjective.
In Greek, the word translated as honour is the word ‘doxazo’, which comes from the root word to have an opinion, to judge, to preeminence…
In short, as a noun, it requires someone of greater authority or position, as used in today’s scripture. A teacher can honor student, a management its employee, a head of an army its member.
As a verb, even a person of a lower state can honour someone greater and vice versa, like in 1 Samuel 2:30. We honour God and God honours us.
As an adjective like ‘honourable’, it requires a lower state person to be honoured by a person of a greater state i.e. 2 Samuel 23:.
One might say we are called to honour our father and mother, even though they are in a greater hierarchy than we, so how does this logic apply?
We are indeed called to honour our father and mother, even though they are of a higher hierarchy than we, but the treasure lies in understanding it. We cannot honour them when fit or well to do in health, thus when the Lord commanded we honour them is when they are unwell or old to take care of themselves. Thus, showering love on them, they are well-to-do, is not honouring, but when they are not, it is. We read in yesterday’s message about being ‘ready for death’, which means when they are weak mentally or physically, we are called to honour them.
God the Father is eternal, so also is the Son, thus the Father is always greater than the Son. So the Son can glorify the Father but not honour Him, it is the Father alone who can glorify the Son and also honour Him.
[Prayer Starter]
Lord, You are Almighty God. You God, are Eternal for You have Life within You, and since the Son came from within You so also does the Son have Life within Himself. Lord, You created us and gave us life, which is for a period, but You made it possible for us to live eternally when we are in Your presence, having access to the Tree of Life/River of Life. Lord, we pray we understand our duty to honour others and from whom we can seek honour…
This prayer we make in Jesus’ Name, Amen.
[Reference Scriptures]
Exodus 20:12 Honor thy father and thy mother, that thy days may be long in the land which Jehovah thy God giveth thee.
1 Samuel 2:30 Wherefore the LORD God of Israel saith, I said indeed [that] thy house, and the house of thy father, should walk before me for ever: but now the LORD saith, Be it far from me; for them that honour me I will honour, and they that despise me shall be lightly esteemed.
2 Samuel 23:23 He was more honourable than the thirty, but he attained not to the [first] three. And David set him over his guard.
Dated 16 May 2026
Bro Rollwyn