Honor Everyone

In November, theologian and author Miroslav Volf came to speak at Evangelical Theological Seminary.  He masterfully talked about the idea of honoring everyone taken from 1 Peter.  It's a difficult thing to put into practice of course.  How can we possibly honor those who are adamantly opposed to us or those who commit some grave atrocity?  Jesus said to love our enemies as ourselves.  We're often resistant to honoring our enemies, because we see them as worthy of our contempt.  Throughout Volf's lecture, I was struck with how powerful and how right he was.  It got me thinking though, how do we display honor to these people?  How can we move from our scorn and contempt to honor and respect?

I was reading a book for a class recently called Visioneering by Andy Stanley.  It was a powerful book on vision casting and how leaders are to have a clear vision for their ministry and their life.  In his book, he also talked about having a vision for those who work for us so that they can be encouraged to grow and reach their fullest potential.  I think that has a lot of bearing in this idea of honoring everyone.  In order to do that we must begin to see the potential in them that has been clouded by their deeds.  We need to have a vision for others and treat them in a manner that helps them achieve that vision.  Jesus often talks about the now and not yet.  Part of us needs to treat others as though they have already changed and part of us needs to treat others in a manner so that they can change.  It's a delicate balance, but in doing this we learn how to honor others and we replace our contempt and scorn.

Obviously, this must be done with care.  We don't want to change people into images of ourselves, we want to help people mature and grow to be the person that God created them to be.  I think if we aren't careful in the vision we cast, it becomes a way of us trying to control others.  For an excellent example of how to properly cast a vision for someone I turn to The Hobbit.  In Tolkien's classic novel, Gandalf has a great way of demonstrating this concept.  The beginning starts out with Bilbo, the dwarves and Gandalf all at Bilbo's home.  Nobody except Gandalf has any respect for Bilbo, including Bilbo himself.  Gandalf, however, says this, "There is a lot more in him than you guess, and a deal more than he has any idea of himself."  Throughout the rest of the book, Bilbo lives up to Gandalf's praise.  It's a gradual change, but at the end it is unmistakable and Bilbo is a hero and a leader.  It's an incredible transformation that could only have occurred through Gandalf believing in him. What would happen if we did this for others?  If we saw the great potential in them and learned how to bring it out of them.  We are made for redeeming others and we are called to honor everyone.  What better way to honor someone than to offer them restoration!