Hi everybody!  We’re talking about honor this week, and how do I build it into my marriage, and how do I get it into my family?  Here’s the #1 thing you can do to create honor, and that is to love and show affection, genuine, honest affection.  

Romans 12:9 says, Let love be genuine.  The New Living Translation translates it as genuine affection.  The NASB translates it as, without hypocrisy, and another version says, with sincerity.  So what does that mean?  It means that I genuinely show affection to my wife, to my husband, to my children, and I don’t do it in hypocrisy.  In other words, I’m not doing it to get something from you.  I’m not doing it so that you’ll do something for me.  I’m just loving you genuinely, and I’m showing you through honest and appropriate affection.  

You know the word love there - love needs to be sincere and love genuinely – the word love is agape. It’s a God-like love!  It’s a love that gives without expecting anything in return.  It’s the kind of love Christ demonstrated when he came and died on a cross for us.  You’re like him when you love genuinely.  

So let me ask you a question; this is an honest question.  Does your family feel like you love them?  Notice, I didn’t ask, do you love them?  You would say, of course I love my family, but do they feel it from you?  When you hug them in the morning, when you give your wife a kiss before you leave for the office, when you embrace your husband, when you tuck your kids in at night, when you spend time with your teenager, when you do something that’s just an affectionate thing to do, do they feel your love?  

That’s where you can start.  You can start today by saying, today I’m going to do something affectionate for every member of my family and tell them that I love them.  Do that and watch your honor level go up today!

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