Dignity is not negotiable. Dignity is the honor of the family.
~ Vartan Gregorian
After the death of Moses the servant of the LORD, the LORD said to Joshua the son of Nun, Moses’ assistant, “Moses My servant is dead. Now therefore arise, go over this Jordan, you and all this people, into the land that I am giving to them, to the people of Israel. Every place that the sole of your foot will tread upon I have given to you, just as I promised to Moses. From the wilderness and this Lebanon as far as the great river, the river Euphrates, all the land of the Hittites to the Great Sea toward the going down of the sun shall be your territory. No man shall be able to stand before you all the days of your life. Just as I was with Moses, so I will be with you. I will not leave you or forsake you. Be strong and courageous, for you shall cause this people to inherit the land that I swore to their fathers to give them. Only be strong and very courageous, being careful to do according to all the law that Moses My servant commanded you. Do not turn from it to the right hand or to the left, that you may have good success wherever you go. This Book of the Law shall not depart from your mouth, but you shall meditate on it day and night, so that you may be careful to do according to all that is written in it. For then you will make your way prosperous, and then you will have good success. Have I not commanded you? Be strong and courageous. Do not be frightened, and do not be dismayed, for the LORD your God is with you wherever you go.”
~ G_d, to Joshua, in Joshua 1
Oh beloved, it is true.
We, those who have chosen to follow Jesus, are part of a very large family. And, while it is true that the family has a Home, we are not there yet. So, across the centuries, this family has been on a trek that is fraught with danger and the profound possibility of injury and death.
Oh, it is not that the journey will fail. No, not even the very gates of hell will stand against what G_d is doing in His family. But, the difficulties are quite real. We have to understand that the victories we expect will not come by us doing things our own way. No, the victories will come when we become willing to see how we are to act in the midst of the problems we will surely face.
And, all of this has everything to do with how we live our lives today.
Can we see it?
The passage above is one of the earlier ones in the Bible, but throughout His Word is this insistent drumbeat. Courage and honor play throughout the Scriptures. We hear the message, though, and we shrink back. We, instead of living a life of nobility often fall into fear, and lash out in criticism of those who do not look like us, or think like us, or agree with us in some way.
However, if we are willing to see it, courage is something far beyond bravery. To be courageous is to act from the fullness of the truth of Who G_d is, and what He has done, is doing, and will do, in our lives. When we are courageous we are acting not from some constructed bravery in the moment. Rather, we are acting from the eternal center that is now welling up from our inner man.
And from this flows something else: Honor.
For, when we see the reality of what is happening in other people’s lives, we begin to sense their importance too. And from this, flows a deep honoring of the same G_d who is at work within them, and also within us. We give honor and glory to G_d for His work in people, but we also begin to honor our family members because they too have become incredibly valuable in and of themselves.
So, where is all of this going? It is going a different direction than so many of us have been going for so many years. Instead of living in courage and honor for all the brethren in our lives, we find ourselves criticizing and dividing ourselves from the very people who could make us stronger. Our local churches are splintering and fracturing over the silliest things. And none of it has to happen.
Further, in us refusing to live as He has both enabled and commanded us to live, we find ourselves failing to even live our own lives in the strength He has given us. And this too, leads to a splintering and disintigration of our lives.
So, hopefully, the point is clear, we have in us, and around us the very strength and goodness of G_d. We have become His friends, and He has brought us into a family that will never dissolve. Perhaps tonight is a night for us to look at things a very different way. Tonight is indeed our night to live in honor and friendship with our G_d, ourselves, and our friends.
When you want to direct someone toward the good, first put him at peace bodily and honor him with words of love. For nothing inclines such a man to shame and induces him to cast of his vice and be changed for the better as do bodily goods and honor, which he sees in you. Then, with love tell him a word or two, and do not be inflamed with anger toward him. Do not let him see any cause of enmity toward you. For love does not know how to lose its temper.
~St. Isaac the Syrian
