Every time I hear or see the word honor, my mind goes back to Exodus 20:12 which says, “Honor your father and mother so that you may have a long life in the land that the LORD your God is giving you.” Honor is a special thing. It is a type of respect that cannot be faked but must flow from the depths of one’s own heart. Every time, my mind first goes to the command to honor our parents.

Our parents are not the only ones who deserve honor though. The Bible goes on to share about how there are others who deserve honor (Romans 13:7; 1 Timothy 5:17; 1 Peter 3:7; 1 Timothy 5:3). We should be faithful in showing honor to those who are deserving.

During my devotion time this morning, something about honoring stood out in a way that I don’t know it has before. I was reading 3 John, and I came to verse 4.

John seems to be writing to a Gaius about some things that are going on. He takes a moment to express his joy at the hearing that those who had poured into at one time were still moving forward in the faith.

As a parent myself, I can somewhat relate to what is being said here. When a child of mine “gets it” and takes steps towards maturity on their own, it is exciting. It helps me to know that my time in training hasn’t been wasted.

What I began to think about this morning was what takes place in the discipleship relationship that Jesus calls His followers to carry out. Jesus has called every one of His followers to learn from Him, reach out to others and share what you have learned so that they may learn it also. That might be a simple definition of discipleship, but it is what I’m going to work with here.

In the discipleship relationship, a “more mature” Christian takes another Christian under his/her wings to show them what this new life in Christ looks like. There is a period of time where there is a great deal of teaching and even “spoon-feeding” that the more mature Christian does. That phase should shift to one where the one being discipled begins doing some things on his/her own.

John expressed great joy in hearing that those he had poured in to for a time were still going forward in the faith. It wasn’t seen as a waste of time. It didn’t seem as though the investment he had made in them fell on hard and resistant soil. They were continuing to grow in their faith, and this made John overjoyed.

One of the greatest ways that we can show honor to those who are investing in us through discipleship is to “keep on.” There are times when one wants to throw in the towel. It is nice to have someone just spoon-feed us the things that we need, but there comes a time when that is more harmful than helpful.

What would you think of a 30-year-old who still wants his mom or dad to put him in a high chair, place a bib around his neck, and spoon the food into his mouth for him? No doubt, this sounds like a ridiculous scene, but it happens far too often within the church.

We can truly honor those who have worked to disciple us in our walk with Jesus by growing in our faith and even getting to the point where we can do some of the tasks for ourselves. It is not that we do not need them anymore at all. It is that we are maturing and what they have been doing is working. This shows great honor and brings great joy to those who are discipling us.