The Importance of Honor
“Finally, brothers and sisters, rejoice! Strive for full restoration, encourage one another, be of one mind, live in peace. And the God of peace will be with you. Greet one another with a holy kiss. All God’s people here send their greetings.” 2 Cor. 13: 11-13
The Bible speaks of a very popular greeting during the time of Christ, and was traditional all around the region where Christianity thrived. It was known as the holy kiss, and the church today appears to have done away with the practice. When reading the various circumstances where the kiss is used in scripture, I began to see a pattern of honor and respect, and not just an ordinary “hello” or passive recognition of someone. Many times in our walk, we meet and greet people with the same mundane salutation and really, if you think about it, don’t actually care if there is any response at all from them. I only knew of one person that I met a few years ago that actually greeted almost everyone with a kiss! This also coming from a man can take you by surprise, but I then saw the honor that was genuinely coming from him.
That greeting didn’t “catch-on” per say in our House, but Steve had, from the very beginning, been hugging EVERYONE he saw or met and I soon realized that he did that out of respect for the person he was encountering in that moment. I do wonder if the holy kiss actually put a “seal” on the greeting that was more than casual for those involved, and also showed you really cared about the one who was kissed.
We need to greet each other every time with this kind of respect in hopes our children see the importance and honor that needs to be continued from generation to generation. Remember today to be confident in your greetings, even though you might not hug or kiss the next person you meet, think about how you are interacting with them at the moment. Maybe it will be the kindest thing that has happened to them that day, and you were their personal greeter sent by Holy Spirit to lift them up.