Last week, upon checking in at a hotel on my return home, I was surprised to see an announcement at the front desk, saying:
Congratulations on being chosen as
Guest of the Day!
DONALD F.
I stood looking at it when the clerk asked, ‘Is that you?’ to which I responded, well, it seems that it might be. After checking my ID, she said, Yes! It’s you! Congratulations! As our Guest of the Day, you can choose extra points on your account OR, wait for it – an ice cream! I momentarily felt like Esau, a perennial lover of ice cream and it calling my name, trying to seduce me in my weakness, and while it wasn’t selling my birthright, I still opted for the more virtuous-sounding extra points. One of the ladies at the counter even asked, What? No ice cream? as if to sway me to the dark side. My point is the honor of being Guest of the Day now felt shabby somehow. I mean, an ice cream? I would have thought balloons, champagne, a small parade, free dinner, a spa treatment, and a cute ‘Guest of the Day’ stuffed animal to bring home to Sue. But no, ice cream.
As I reflect on that, I can’t help seeing the vast difference between the world’s idea of honor and that of the Kingdom of God. In this country, two people just spent hundreds of millions of dollars vying for the honor of redecorating the Oval Office! Football athletes batter their bodies, and the bodies of their opponents, for the honor of hoisting a huge trophy! Drivers spend a lot of time racing around ovals for the honor of having their picture taken for a magazine. It’s the frenzy for what Andy Warhol called our ‘fifteen minutes of fame.’ The allure is fleeting. The rush of pleasure quickly fading. Before you know it, the spotlights pivot elsewhere.
But God’s honor is of another sort altogether. It is an honor which thrills to be shared. It is an honor that is increased as it is repeated. It is honor which is bestowed, which doesn’t seek itself, doesn’t boast of itself, doesn’t make demands. It is a filling-up-to-the-brim honor, totally satisfying. This honor is love-replete and in sync with the One Who bestows it. He is ours! And we are His beloved! PD
