Misplaced honor

At the heart of all poor (wrong) choices is misplaced ¹honor. We either honor (glorify - value) something more than it deserves or ¹dishonor who or what deserves it most.

Why would we do this? 

Because we do not properly see the true value of things. As a result, we either assign to something greater value than it actually has or we do not recognize how valuable something truly is.

An illustration:

A starving blind man has

two items placed before him - 

1. A warm, freshly baked loaf of bread and 

2. A cold, smooth, egg like, 5 pound piece of gold (worth around $160K at today's prices).

When asked to pick one, which would he pick? He would likely pick the bread. 

Why? Though he is blind, he can still smell its delicious aroma and feel its soft warm texture, but can't see what either object is. The gold egg would be cold, heavy, odorless, and tasteless. 

Also, his hunger might be so great it overpowers his ability to ³reason i.e. his need for ²food will overwhelm his ability to think clearly and properly assess the possibility of the other object having a greater value. When he holds the piece of gold, he'll only know it's cold, smooth and heavy but he would not be able to determine what it is...i.e. gold, lead, steel, polished marble, etc? 

Because his ability to evaluate the true value of the objects is impaired and he is limited in his ability to accurately assess that value, it is highly likely he will not make the wisest choice. 

If he chose the egg over the bread, it would be an act of faith (or maybe an act of stupidity, according to his blind friends). The sure thing would be the warm bread. 

But he actually made his choice based on ⁴faith – an act of trust in one thing and distrust in another - that the bread was more valuable than this tasteless, odorless 5-pound "egg," when in reality the gold was of far greater value and could gain for him all the food - and more - he needed for a long time.

Why was trust necessary in this situation? Because of the limitations of the blind man. He could not see what the objects were before him, only feel and smell them. 

So it is with all of us. Because we are spiritually blind (and God is Spirit) and we do not possess infinite knowledge or the ability to be everywhere to observe everything in the universe there is to know, we can not assess whether God exists or what He's truly like. We have hints, but because of our appetite for immediate gratification, we ⁵opt for created things vs the Creator of those things who is far (i.e. infinitely) more valuable - if only because all things exist because of Him. Therefore, we will assess what He is like based on a very limited understanding of what we experience only with our senses.

Add to the analogy a person presenting him the two objects. And that person who can see, tells him the egg like object is the better choice (but with no further information given). What would the blind man do? It all depends on how much he knows and trusts this person.

For us to choose the better of two options, we must see their true value (or trust the one presenting them who clearly knows their true value) or we will not give them their proper regard - honor.

Because we can not see fully, we must trust. Either choice we make requires faith...faith that our senses are sufficient to accurately assess things or faith in someone who claims to have perfect understanding, cares for us perfectly and has the complete ability (power) to deliver on what they promise-claim.

Our perception of God is skewed for many reasons, keeping us from seeing and trusting who he truly is. 

Christ said if you have seen me you have seen the Father, i.e. God. If you want to know what God is like, get to know me (Jesus)...who I am - my heart, why I stepped into this world of suffering out of the bliss of heaven, what I did to remedy the pain, suffering and brokenness in you and the world so you could permanently and ultimately be free from it one day. When we understand these, we will know God's true heart and character and honor Him accordingly.

For a further discussion on seeing clearly, click here.

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¹Wrapped up in this idea of honor (glory) is the value, significance, and worth we give or do not give something. This is also the essence - the heart - of worship. When we honor someone according to their true worth, we glorify or worship them.

²Spiritual food (food for our heart) comprises a sense of meaning, value and purpose - in a word love. We choose that which we believe will best give us love. But that choice is based on our limited understanding. To have true understanding, we must ask someone who has perfect knowledge and who perfectly loves to reveal to us what is best. Perfect love engenders trust.

³The next time you go grocery shopping, pay attention to your choices when you're hungry versus when you're not. If you have already tried this, you may notice the food you select will be different. When hungry, you may pick more foods that require no preparation so you can eat them right away vs food that is more healthy but takes time to prepare. Our hunger affects our choice. Immediate gratification vs delayed gratification may dominate unless you've learned the health benefits of preparing a balanced meal and how to discipline yourself through delayed gratification, i.e. you've learned (and believe) delayed gratification is the better choice.

⁴Faith in what? Faith that what we seek will deliver on what it appears to promise. That promise comprises something giving to us what we believe we need most. 

All choices involve faith by virtue of our limits. We are not all-knowing, all-powerful and everywhere present to confirm what we seek is what we most need or whether it will give us what it appears to promise. So we must both trust that what we trust in can deliver on what it promises. And what it can deliver is, in fact, what is best for us (not just what we think is best).

So the question we must ask ourselves is how is our approach working so far? If you feel it's working great and it is does not involve the Creator, then you will never see him as he truly is.

⁵Not totally unlike what Adam and Eve did.