Honor

Honor is fidelity to a system of fixed values and relations.

Elisabeth Elliot, Passion and Purity (Revell, 2002), p. 68.

If there are no absolutes, can there be honor? Oh, but values are measurable. There is black and white—and some gray to be sure—but most certainly black and white. Our society has turned everything topsy turvy, where right is wrong and wrong is right. We do that which is right in our own eyes. But has this sort of life gotten us any real freedom? Has this selfish perspective brought any peace to the world? There is safety in clear, unmistakable boundaries. And there is honor in respecting them.

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Elisabeth Elliot’s writing has greatly influenced my life, even as a grown married woman. I truly wish someone had introduced me to her works when I was a teenager, but I am learning that it is never too late to incorporate the principles she teaches: namely, that passion is not sinful and purity is not prudish. Nor are they mutually exclusive. You can have both.