“What honor once made great, dishonor now makes ordinary.”

A thought by Craig Groeschel from his book, Altar Ego: Becoming Who God Says You Are (p. 125). Zondervan. Kindle Edition. (Click on the title to go to Amazon.com to buy the book.)

I know we want our relationships to be very special, don’t we?  But so many times they are just ordinary.

Craig says, “Would you like to know how you can have a common or ordinary relationship? Dishonor the other person. Simply treat them as common or ordinary. Take any dating relationship. When couples first get together, being in love comes so easily. Every day is filled with sunshine. And even when it rains, all you see is rainbows. You know why? Because whether you realize it or not, you’re continually showing honor to each other. He opens doors for her. She tells her friends about all of his great qualities. He brings her presents and flowers. She bakes him cookies and loves to hear all about his day, every day — even the boring details!”

He goes on, “You demonstrate honor to each other, over and over. But why doesn’t it last? Because couples get married, and they start taking one another for granted. Instead of continuing to show honor, you start treating each other as common. What honor once made great, dishonor now makes ordinary.

“It probably goes without saying that the opposite of dishonor is honor. In the Greek, this is the word time (pronounced tee-MAY). Time literally means ‘to value, to respect, or to highly esteem.’ It’s usually associated with a way to assign value. It means treating something (or someone) as precious, weighty, or valuable.”

Later he says, “Dishonoring devalues and tears down. To honor a person is to believe the best about them and to let them know it. To dishonor a person is to believe the worst and to let others know it. Honor lifts up. Dishonor tears down.”

So, how’s your relationship going?