Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor. (1 Peter 2:17)
“R-E-S-P-E-C-T/Find out what it means to me.” Aretha had it right. Everyone wants it; not everyone gets it. Followers of Jesus should know how to give it… to everyone.
Where does respect come from? Is it learned by example or can it be taught? Did we all start with it and just forget? Like love do you have to know it for yourself before you can give it? I believe to a certain extent all of these are factors. There are cultures where respect is ingrained in society. There are times in our own culture when respect was more the norm than it is now.
But the kind of respect that God expects of us lives at a deeper level than any of these. It comes from universal truths about God and us, the first being that we are all made in his image. That means every human being on the planet reflects something about the nature of God. Psalm 8: 5&6 says, “You have made them [human beings] a little lower than the angels and crowned them with glory and honor. You made them rulers over the works of your hands; you put everything under their feet.” This is true for everyone you meet today. That’s pretty impressive.
But there is another level of respect that comes, believe it or not, from embracing our on sin. If I weigh my sin against anyone else’s, no matter how bad they might seem, mine will always weigh more. Why? Because it’s mine. I know my sin. I know its depths and its intricacies better than anyone else’s. And I know how hard I work to try and forget this—to focus on how bad someone else is so I don’t have to face how bad I am. But the truth remains: no matter how bad someone else might seem to me, I am worse.
And then I bring all this to the table and find out about God’s mercy—that I’ve been forgiven, my slate has been wiped clean, and in God’s eyes I’m righteous, in spite of all that other stuff I know about me. And once this has happened to you, you can never look down on another human being. I know what a scoundrel I am, yet God loves me, then how can I not extend that same mercy to everyone else?
John Fischer The Catch 
as i like to say i strive to be much more aware of the roots of the sequoia outgrowth in my ocular cavity than the cells of the dwarf willow in yours.
Sounds like a variation on my version of Luke 6: 41-42 and Matthew 7: 3-5! If I were to preach a sermon on it, I think I’d call it “The Toothpick and the Two-by-Four”. Liked the tree references…
“Respect is like air. You don’t think about it until you dont’ have it, and then it’s ALL you think about.” — Joseph Grenny
How about a little “Respect” for Otis Redding the writer of the song. It is always import to give respect to those it is due. And it is due for anyone for whom Christ died and rose again.
So, all of that being said, I pose a question–not out of ignorance but out of curiosity, mind you. I am sure there are many ideas and definitions floating around out there, and I’d like to know anyone’s and everyone’s–What is respect and how does one show it?
We will get back to this.
I look forward to that!
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