“Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.” 1 Peter 2:17
We live in a world filled with conflict, differences, opinions, worldviews, likes and dislikes. We know it’s important to show respect to others around us but we may struggle at times. It can be hard to respect others when we don’t understand them, agree with their viewpoints, or see eye to eye.
Have you ever been treated with a lack of respect? I certainly have at different times in my life. One fairly recent situation at work comes to mind. I had participated in a meeting where we had lunch in the conference room. Later that day, my boss (who was standing in front of the conference room) flagged me down as I was leaving the building and told me to move the jug of tea out of the room. Really? He was standing right there. And I knew for sure that he would have never done that if I had been male. And this was not the first time I felt disrespected by him. Needless to say, I am no longer there.
This may seem like a trivial example but we all deal with disrespect at times. Sometimes it may be based on our dimensions of diversity like race, sex, religion, national origin, sexual orientation, educational background, job title (there are too many to list). In other cases, it may just be a person who doesn’t have esteem for others and treats them badly for other reasons.
So, what exactly is respect? The Webster’s definition is “to feel or show honor or esteem for; hold in high regard; to show consideration for, and showing dutiful regard”
So, why do we need to respect others? Remember the golden rule.
“Do to others as you would have them do to you.” Luke 6:31
I’m pretty sure that none of us enjoy being disrespected. Therefore, disrespect is not something we should do to others.
How do we show respect to others? Here are some examples.
- Treating them with courtesy and kindness
- Encouraging them to share their opinions
- Listening to them without speaking over or interrupting them
- Never insulting, name-calling, disparaging or belittling them
- Being inclusive
We know that others have faults, and there may be times when we need to discuss problems, yet the Bible tells us that we need to maintain an attitude of respect for everybody.
There may be a few people that you don’t feel DESERVE your respect because they have disrespected you or haven’t earned it, but we should show them respect because God told us to. The Bible gives us an example to follow with respect in martial relationships.
“However, each one of you also must love his wife as he loves himself, and the wife must respect her husband.” Ephesians 5:33
“Husbands, in the same way be considerate as you live with your wives, and treat them with respect …” 1 Peter 3:7. I stopped there because it goes on to say the wife is the weaker partner😊 My husband keeps asking me when I am going to write a blog post about being submissive – just don’t think I can get there.
Here are some reasons why God expects us to respect others.
We should respect others because they are made in the image of God.
The Bible says, “For in the image of God has God made mankind.” (Genesis 9:6) This is ALL of mankind, not certain groups.
We should respect others as children of God
In addition, we should respect others as children of God and realize that God loves them as such. We should never dishonor someone God loves.
“This is love: not that we loved God, but that he loved us and sent his Son as an atoning sacrifice for our sins.” 1 John 4:10
Love our neighbors as ourselves
The Bible instructs us to “love our neighbor as ourselves.” (Mark 12:30-31) You can’t love your neighbor and not show them respect!
We should choose to accept that every human is imperfect, overlook the things we don’t like or agree with and love them anyway! When we lean into our differences and show love and respect to others, we will contribute to making this world a better place. And this is certainly sorely needed!
So, go forth and show everyone respect!
