Honor Code

(Proverbs 26:1 KJV)  As snow in summer, and as rain in harvest, so honour is not seemly for a fool.

I notice that “honor” (3519b) is a noun, not a verb.  It is a quality that has largely disappeared in our modern western culture.  We are much more into “cool” than “honor”.  In fact the concept of honor as a noun has been replaced by honor as a verb. 

Honor is an inner quality which describes a commitment to living a life of high ideals and standards.  It takes qualities which are considered admirable such as courage or honesty and adheres to them at any cost.  One example of this from history would be the code of chivalry in the west or bushido in Japan.  It involves seeking justice and protecting virtue.

The sad thing about this is that today we would call this person a prude or a Victorian.  Even sadder is that many of these virtues are mandated for us as Christians and we have given them up.

So?  We are to be different from the world.  That means we are not to be fools.  Honor should be a part of our lives even if the world thinks we are a little bit weird.  Remember that at one point they thought Jesus was crazy and his family needed to take him away.