"Honour all men"

In my reading this morning, I came across this verse:  "Honour all men.  Love the brotherhood.  Fear God.  Honour the king." (1 Peter 2:17).  Now I've read this passage MANY times, but never really focused on the first part much.  I looked up the word "honour".  It means to prize, to fix a valuation upon, to revere...to value.  Such a short statement and so easy to understand the meaning.  But how often do we REALLY do this?  Do we truly value each person that we meet?  By observing the actions around me...and those performed BY me...I don't think we do.

When we are going about our business and someone calls us on the phone, do we reject the call or get aggravated at the interruption?  How much value are we placing on the person making that call?  When we get angry at some "slight", either by people we know or a stranger who cuts us off in traffic or a sales person or waiter who is rude, do we really think about their value as a person?  When we choose to rush home on Sunday, because we really have other things that we need or want to do, rather than taking an opportunity to engage in sweet fellowship one with another, how much value are do we place on our brothers and sisters in Christ?

There are so many ways that we can either show esteem for people or show a lack thereof.  We can avert our eyes and walk the other way when we see homeless people, or we can acknowledge their humanity and see if we can make their day a little better.  We can dismiss those who have been in trouble with the law as not worthy of value, or we can treat them with kindness and compassion.  We can look down our nose at those of other races or ethnic groups or socioeconomic status, or we can treat all people with respect.

I hope to pay more attention and try to not just "show" but also truly extend honor to those around me...especially when it has NOT been shown to me.  (Matt. 5:43-48)  If we all work on doing this, what a kinder world we would have!