Respect

 

Just thinking about climbing a mountain, gives me such a respectful fear of how mighty it is, and how treacherous it can be.

Respect. What a forgotten concept in today’s world. With so many opinions expressed, and ideology debated, it appears that no has any respect for anyone. People don’t filter what they say before they say it. They don’t think about the consequences their words have on others.

The first amendment gives us freedom of speech, but how many of us abuse that privilege? Words have such power, and yet they’re so often tossed into the wind without thinking where they will go or end up, or who they will affect.

Many have lost respect for authority. Just turn on the news, and you’ll see people saying unthinkable things about law enforcement. Having no respect for what they do for us or the authority they represent. News flash. Police officers are people too. Crazy right? And for them to go out day after day and put their lives on the line to make this world a better place, is amazing. They’re just trying to make a living, and make it home alive at the end of the day. So to despise, disrespect, and even hate such people astonishes me.

People don’t respect each others opinions or beliefs. We all have a right to believe what we want to believe. If someone doesn’t agree with me, that’s their right. If I don’t agree with them, I have that right. Since when do you have to agree with someone to care about them? Why do people become angry if someone opposes them? Opposition is good. It builds character. It makes you stronger. You don’t just want everything handed to you, do you?

Where’s the respect for parents? For teachers? For any authoritative figures at all? Perhaps we can’t. Perhaps we can’t respect authority because we as a society have lost respect for God. We throw His name around willy-nilly. We don’t see Him as the sovereign, holy one that He is. We just see Him as an idea, or a ‘Guy who sits in the clouds.’

Perhaps we can’t respect God or anybody else for that matter, because we don’t respect ourselves. The definition of self-respect is this: pride and confidence in oneself; a feeling that one is behaving with honor and dignity. If you don’t care enough about yourself, you won’t care about anyone else. You can’t care about anyone else.

What was that second commandment Jesus gave? ‘Love your neighbor as yourself?’ How can you love your neighbor as He said while forgetting the second half of the passage, ‘as yourself?’ We have got to get back to a place where we as a church and a nation Respect God and His authority. Where we respect the authority of our leaders. And where we respect ourselves and our fellow-man.