The way of the Samurai

12 Be careful to live properly among your unbelieving neighbors. Then even if they accuse you of doing wrong, they will see your honorable behavior, and they will give honor to God when he judges the world. 1 Peter 2:12

And yet another scripture tying into the changing of culture. Today's verse says that we should live properly among those who are unbelieving, for proper living will allow others to see our lives as honorable and God will be honored by the way we live.

When I think about honor I think about respect, and esteem. But honor goes much deeper than that. Honor is what makes someone or something credible. The Gospel is true nothing can change that, but what makes the Gospel credible to unbelievers is how we live. The question that I'm thinking about right now is, can honor change a culture? You bet it can. One of the most interesting cultures that I admire are the Japanese. Honor is extremely valued. My wife's uncle who lives in Hawaii has a Japanese wife, she has taken one day off of work here whole life, she's not a workaholic she lives with honor. Where did this tradition of honor come from? Honor in the Japanese culture can be traced back to a group of warriors in Japan's history known as the Samurai. The Samurai lived their lives as noble warriors who were committed to living honorable. Centuries later the Japanese culture is forever marked with a tradition of honor. "Honor changes culture." I guess I can take some lessons from the Samurai. In fact I learned today that the name Samurai is a Japanese verb for service, “saburau”. Samurai literally means “one who is a servant." Isn't that what I am, a servant, "one who is a servant of Christ"? Being a servant of Christ how does He get Honor through my life? When people here me talk, watch me react, see how I carry myself does my life make Christ look credible to them? How can I bring Honor to Christ today more so that the culture around me is changed.