“And Jabez was more honourable than his brethren…”~ 1 Chron. 4:9
No higher tribute can be paid to a man (or woman) than this. To be told by a person of character, who knows you best, that you’re the most honorable individual they've ever met; well, that’s the apex of life for anyone, I think.
I've observed in the general population of younger men and women today, this accolade seems to mean little or nothing. I personally bend over backward for this present younger generation, always remembering how it was in my early years of manhood. But one of the things set in stone in my moral makeup, which I refuse to expunge, is the fact that a man should be a man of honor. This statement may be from the old school, but we who graduated from that school, graduated with the medal honor!
The word honor itself comes from the Latin. Some of its meanings are: integrity, trustworthy, ethical, morally principled, respectable, good. David’s mighty men, whom he gathered around him, were honorable men. Some were more than the others, “He was more honorable than the thirty, but he attained not to the first three.” I would liked to have been among the three.
And of women also, it is written, “Kings' daughters were among thy honourable women.” Again, “A gracious woman retaineth honour.”
The movie Rob Roy is a historical adventure, set in the Scottish Highlands in the seventeen hundreds. In one scene, Rob’s son asks him what honor meant, and his reply is a classic: “Honor is what no man can give you, nor can he take it away. Honor is a gift a man gives to himself.”
I do not know what men call themselves that are without honor; but I, for one, would never refer to them as “a man.”
by an Aged Saint
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Dad, you exemplify a man of honor.