As this world changes daily and political correctness becomes more popular, it seems that respect for others and good manners seem to be out of the window. It doesn’t matter who you are or your standing in the community no one person is better than the other.
Even though society dictates the way we feel about others or the way they feel about us, no one, absolutely no one, is any more important than another in God’s eyes. He gives man a free rein on what he says or does and if he chooses not to trust in the Lord it is he that will answer for his life on earth when judgement day comes for him to stand before the Lord. Yes, everyone will face God’s judgement as we are told in 2 Corinthians 5:10; “For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ, so that each one may receive what is due for what he has done in the body, whether good or evil.”
According to Webster’s New World Dictionary the definition of “Respect” is: “to look at, look back on, to feel, to show honor or esteem for; hold in high regard; to consider or treat with deference or dutiful regard; to concern….”
It seems that over the last fifty years respect for people has been thrown out the window and the only people that some think about is them. The ‘Golden Rule’, as is given to us in Matthew 7:12, seems to have been put on the back burner and it has become a ‘dog eat dog’ world. Simple manners such as men and women have quit respecting their elders, men have quit respecting women, children have certainly quit respecting parents, and the list goes on. With all of this being said , we wonder why our civilization has gotten to the way we are in this modern day time.
Most of this can be blamed on the family unit or the lack of. Schools have been banned from controlling students in most instances and employers are afraid of lawsuits for firing or laying off certain individuals. Many colleges are teaching the liberal standards of no respect for the law and if something happens you don’t like then just call you friends and start a protest. Our politicians are a lot of the blame because they won’t stand up for the law abiding citizens and listen only to the ‘crybabies’ not getting their way or getting their feelings hurt.
The Bible tells us to have respect of people. Christians are to live in a way that they command the respect of neighbors and thus serve as effective witnesses. We are told this in 1 Thessalonians 4:11-12. In Leviticus 19:32 we are told to respect and honor older men. In Romans 13:7 we are told to honor public officials, in 1 Timothy 3:4 we are told to honor our parents, in 1 Peter 3:4 to honor our masters(employers) and in 1 Thessalonians 5:1213 we are told to respect and honor our Christian leaders.
Look at yourself evaluate your outlook on life and others. What does it say about you and your respect toward others?
Prayer: Thank you Lord for allowing me time on this earth. I pray that I may have respect for everyone around me and honor them as you would have me to do.
Amen.
