Pursue Kindness Instead of Honor

Proverbs 21:21
"Whoever pursues righteousness and kindness will find life, righteousness, and honor."

In the business world, this verse seems backwards. It would appear that if I pursue strength of position, knowledge of my craft, and wisdom of how to move up the ladder, that I will move up well. Instead this verse clearly says to pursue righteousness and kindness, and life and honor will be supplied.

How can I pursue righteousness and kindness at work? If I can deliver what I say I will deliver, when I say I'll do it, that will be righteous. If I make extra sure that I'm not defrauding the company by wasting time, that will be righteous. If I can take extra time with people who frustrate me, that will be kind. If I sacrifice for others that will be kind.

I want life and honor. I will be righteous and kind to get them.

Proverbs 15

³³The fear of the LORD is the instruction for wisdom, And before honor comes humility.

How do you learn wisdom? Fear the Lord. Being wise means being able to discern which of the multitude of options available, is the right one to pick to achieve the best outcome. In the narrow sense of salvation, discerning the option of Christ as the way to achieve the best outcome of actually surviving judgment and enjoying eternity, comes from knowing that God is worthy of fear. Within that context being humble before God and knowing that He is doing the saving, not me will lead me to honor with Him in glory.

Aside from the salvation aspects that this verse conjures up, I also see my desire for honor professionally and ecclesiastically. This verse is pointing out that I need to pursue humility before I can expect to receive honor. Instead of longing for honor, which I spend a lot of time doing, I should be longing for humility.