Respect the Heck Out of Them

It is God’s will that your honorable lives should silence those ignorant people who make foolish accusations against you.  For you are free, yet you are God’s slaves, so don’t use your freedom as an excuse to do evil.  Respect everyone, and love your Christian brothers and sisters.  Fear God, and respect the king.

2 PETER 2:15-17 (NLT)

“Respect is earned, not given.”

That’s something that I heard at a relatively young age and it sounded like solid truth.  Respect was something that you couldn’t automatically expect to get from people, unless you did something to deserve it. 

But the Bible presents a principle that is completely contrary to the notion that you only have to respect the people who earn your respect.  It says, “Respect everyone.” 

Lord knows, I’ve tried to find verses in the Bible that instruct me to only show respect to people who are as smart as me or believe like I believe or have lifestyles that I approve of.  But I keep finding this repetitive theme that instead tells me to respect everybody. 

“But, what if I deal with stupid people who do stupid things?”

Treat them with respect.

 

“But, what if I have to deal with people who are from a different religion that trashes the name and mission of Jesus?” 

Treat them with respect.

 

“But, what if I have to deal with someone who is an avowed atheist and constantly ridicules my faith?”

Treat them with respect.

 

“But, what if I have to interact with people who are living a lifestyle that I don’t approve of and want equal rights provided to them?”

Treat them with respect.

 

“But, what if they’re liberal Democrats?”

Treat them with respect.

 

“But, what if I am constantly surrounded by hard-headed, legalistic right-wing Republican Christians who are quick to judge and unlikely to show grace and mercy to others?”

Treat them with respect.  At least try to.

 

If the Bible is true, the answer will always be, ‘Treat them with respect’.  And the reason for that is plainly stated too.  Showing respect for anyone and everyone you come into contact with shuts down any attempts to make foolish accusations against you.  It stops people from making credible claims that you don’t really care about them, only your personal agenda.

Respect isn’t compromise.  Respect isn’t defeat or failure to make your point.  It also doesn’t mean you accept something that goes against your core principles. 

Showing respect gets results, too.  Now, if the cases are similar to those examples I just used, you may never see the ‘results’ you’d like to see – i.e., changes in lifestyles, changes in political affiliations and even changes of heart on core religious issues – but you will gain respect back from those you deal with.

Showing respect also gives off an aura of control.  Self-control?  Maybe.  God-control?  More likely.  Chances are, though, that the people you’re interacting with won’t know or care where the sense of control comes from.  They’ll just see in you that, even when you can’t see eye-to-eye with them on a specific subject, you’re still able to maintain a demeanor of respectful self-control.  And they’ll eventually begin to reciprocate.

Here’s something I read recently: 

“People who behave inappropriately generally have low self-esteem…” 

Treating others with disrespect qualifies as behaving inappropriately.  It’s a reflection on you and your value of yourself.  Basically, since you don’t respect yourself, you can’t respect others.

When that happens, it will be obvious to those people.  You can give up ever hoping to have any sort of positive influence on them.  And that is when you are truly defeated.

The key is to remember that the goal is to positively impact the lives of everyone you come into contact with.  Ridicule and disrespect won’t contribute to attaining that goal.  So, whenever you meet someone who doesn’t look, smell, think or act like you think they should…respect the heck out of them!