KEEPING THE HONOR

 KEEPING THE HONOR

We have words in English that mean different things in different contexts. For instance, Is maroon the color of your sweater or what the pirates did to Ben Gunn in Treasure Island? Or, “You have to be nuts to be as nutty as I am about nuts.” And, “Watching the meet from his sports car, the dashing young man dashed his fist against the dashboard at the unwanted outcome of the hundred yard dash.” Such diverse word meanings are found in every language on Earth. It was true of the Greek of the New Testament. One of those Greek words is timi, (τιμή). It can mean honor and respect or it can be used for monetary profit. This word group is used repeatedly with both meanings in Acts.

I am not sure if Luke or his first century readers saw this, but there appears to be a play on this word in chapters 4 and 5. At the end of Acts 4 we read that some of the members of the early church sold their property and laid the proceeds at the Apostles’ feet to be distributed among the needy in their midst. The word for “proceeds” is timi, while in other contexts timi is rendered, honor or respect. 

Chapter 5 tells about Ananias and Sapphira who sold a piece of property and pretended to lay all of the proceeds at the Apostles’ feet while they actually kept part of it back. Of course the problem was not in the amount that they gave. They didn’t have to give any of the proceeds of the sale. The problem was in their pretense. 

Peter asked him, “Why has Satan filled your heart to lie to the Holy Spirit and keep back part of the proceeds (timi) of the land?” Honor is what Ananias was keeping for himself. Ananias wanted the prestige (timi) of giving all the proceeds of the sale. The judgment of God upon Ananias and Sapphira brought a holy fear upon the entire church.

That brings us to the honor we seek in God's church. I will be honest I have often been willing to be respected as a prayer warrior or even a spiritual giant. I am pleased that God has not seen fit to make me an example of His judgment like He did Ananias and Sapphira. But God is no more pleased with such behavior in me than He was with Ananias. I want to work at pleasing God by giving Him the honor due to Him. I want God to change my heart and life to honor Him. Is that your desire? Do you long for it to be true in your heart and your life?

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