There are so many words that fit this description. Honor is one. To honor someone is an action and, therefore, a verb. Does honoring someone ensue honor? I don’t think so. To have honor – be honorable – is a state of being which is also a verb. Honor, the noun, means adherence to what is right or following a conventional standard of conduct. Exodus 20:12 says, “Honor your father and mother”. We don’t need an explanation as this is clear. No matter the father or mother, they are your father and mother and brought you into this world. That is not easy. Each deserves credit for that because God says so. Since this train of thought has been a draft for many months, I’m wondering if there are other complex words in the Ten Commandments. Let’s take a look. Words are: false witness, adultery, murder, theft, the worship of false gods, honoring God’s name, graven images, covet, and keep the Sabbath holy, and these in no particular order. In order, the first three commandments are vertical and about your loyalty to God. The others are horizontal. Walk out your front door. Look to your right and left. Those are the people you are supposed to honor, not kill, not commit adultery with or steal, lie, covet for sex, and not covet their stuff. I think God wrote His commands simply because we are simple people. This is not complicated with many meanings but complicated in the execution. Try harder to be good comes to mind but let’s wrap this up with the truth – Jesus left His place of honor to become like us to save us because the Ten Commandments is an impossible standard. Maybe it would have worked in the original garden before sin entered our space. The formal noun is Jesus the Son of God. His action was His sacrifice. It’s late but the bottom line is always the same.
