Some words have a feel to them.
The word noble, in my hearing, has the feeling something old and posh. It’s not a word I hear often mentioned in my circles unless there’s a mock posh voice or unless it’s being mentioned in jest. Maybe that’s just the people I hang around. Maybe that’s just me.
There is something about the word, however, that’s reflective of what what it’s pointing to. Not so much about being posh as about being something of an age, of a vintage, or a time – a classic. When you think of something classic, usually what’s done with something marked as classic is that it is cherished, it is honoured, it is highly valued. Therein lies the wisdom in thinking on the noble.
Thinking on the noble is an exercise in thinking of someone or something of a higher value not in financial terms, but in terms of its character worth. For example, the call to honour our father and mother, is a call to see the noble task of bringing children into the world and being the guardians responsible for their welfare and upbringing. This is a noble task because it requires great character. It needs values that are to be highly cherished and valued. It remains one of the greatest tasks that could be undertaken. When it’s recognised for that, the recipients should understandably respond to that with the due honour.
I am not suggesting that disrespect and irreverence is a modern phenomena, I am saying that in a world where respect is a value but honour and nobility isn’t as much of one, there’s almost a license to discredit and undermine anything that could be seen to be worthy because of its inherent nobility. It’s a great shame that this is the approach. The pursuit of the noble is recognising a greater worth in pursuing that which is of great character and substance and starting on that premise rather than looking for the flaws to help bring it down.
There’s not overtly much to commend in pursuing the noble and the honourable, but when we dig a bit further in life we find the value. For example, if you’ve been blessed to have two loving parents invest their lives in you and practice that by investing their lives in each other, there is something of great value in that. Something you may not appreciate until you go beyond those confines. When you observe other parenting dynamics especially the ones where the parental dynamic is dysfunctional seemingly beyond repair, it reinforces the noble and honourable. It goes onto also challenge and sometimes motivate you to realise that the best way to honour that blessing isn’t by applauding it and highlighting it, but by going onto practice it.
When I think of the noble and the honourable today, I think of my brother. I think of his life of ongoing sacrifice for his beautiful wife and their beautiful children. I think of his commitment to his family and desire to serve them and exercise his responsibility to love them by guiding them on a right path.
As he celebrates his birthday today it’s so fitting that in thinking of my parents and how they loved him so much in the time he was brought up at home. It’s to their credit that he is exercising honour to them by being such a devoted husband and father. It’s for him to talk about his flaws and failings, I choose to start from the premise of just honouring this noble, modest and humble man. He is a great friend and a man whose integrity and word I value significantly. I am glad he is such an honourable man and with his son looking on it bodes well for the generations. It bodes well because David took well from a very noble man in our Dad.
Thinking on these things raises the sights of the character I desire. Thinking on the noble raises the aspirations to be just like that – to recognise that in following God there is a chance to have your character shaped by Him so that through the fire and through the challenges of life, God can be chiseling and moulding that noble character. It’s worth thinking about to aspire to and to practice until we reach there.
After all, that would be the noble thing to do.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
C. L. J. Dryden
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