Respect

Talking the current economic weirdness with a friend. He would be more of a conservative type. A veteran and a business man. I was struck by where he took the conversation. He went to the topic of respect. "I think it is a shame the disrespect shown the President."

When I was a child, one of my key components of my parental schooling was to show, at all times, respect. Respect started with the recognition that I am talking to or talking of a person who God made on purpose and for whom Christ died, also on purpose.

Disagreement was fine. Even anger, if not cultivated was fine as long as these were honestly expressed directly to the person. After all, that was the respectful thing to do. A person of value deserved respect. It was disrespectful to guess at people's motives (unless they expressed them.) It was disrespectful to call people names. It was disrespectful to paint a person with the broad paintbrush of generalities.

It was respectful to give people the benefit of the doubt and ask questions. It was respectful to listen without working on my rebuttal. It was respectful to withhold judgment until all the facts were in. It was respectful to honor another person's culture – ethnic, socioeconomic, religious or political. Respect demands we know our own motives and keep some of them in check.

The past few weeks contained a number of leaders and others engaging in the art of disrespect towards God's children. God is sad. Christ asks us to raise the bar.

How will you fuel respect today?

Do nothing out of selfish ambition or vain conceit. Rather, in humility value others above yourselves

Philippians 2:3