“Show respect for all men [treat them honorably]. Love the brotherhood (the Christian fraternity of which Christ is the Head). Reverence God. Honor the emperor.” (I Peter 2:17 Amplified Bible, Classic Edition)
From the jump, let me make it clear I am referring to R-E-S-P-E-C-T, respect, in the title above. Now, with that clarification, I will move forward.
A couple of days ago, during the mentoring segment of our Tutoring & Mentoring ministry at our church, to help our pre-school and primary age students enhance their reading skills, including the significance of pronouncing sentences that end with punctuation marks, and to teach them the importance of respecting others, I had them read a book I published in English and Spanish, copyrighted in 2011, entitled “Ariel’s Lessons” or, in Spanish, “Las Leccioness de Ariel.” One of the lessons taught in the book to the star character, Ariel, and I quote, says, “You just speak different, and look different, but that is the world we live in. It is a world where we must be proud of who we are, but respect those who are different on the outside or even different in the inside.” Yes, if you are thing about D&I, you are right, in addition to reading, learning about respect, there was an additional focus on diversity and inclusion. Adults can benefit from the latter two topics too, specifically the excerpt. I know that is true because I used this book that has a target audience of Pre-Kindergarten to 2nd graders in a session where I was teaching the subject in a 450-level course at a nationally recognized, Division I, university. Okay, let’s move on!
After reading the lesson that I quoted above, one of the students in the tutoring and mentoring class, an always observant and never shy to ask questions oriented around “Who?,” “What?”, “Why,” “Where?,” or “When?” asked, “What is respect?” In response, I did not give the dictionary definition that says, “a feeling of deep admiration for someone or something elicited by their abilities, qualities, or achievements.” I could have, but I did not. And I did not refer to Jesus’ words, “Treat others as you would like to be treated,” but I opted to reply by saying, “Being kind to others, making others feel okay about themselves, just like you like to feel okay, and obeying those who have charge over us, like teachers and mentors.” I had to get that one in, right?
Now while my structured time segment was short, and we have tried not to make it like Sunday School or VBS, I avoided incorporating the opening and closing verses to my eloquent, erudite, educational, edifying instruction given to these 5-7-year-old children. A laugh goes right here! Now, after your chuckle, get this, I am not really restricted in respect to time this morning, in this “meditation world,” and after all, my inspiration has to be anchored in the awesome word of God in order to make you God-conscious and Christ-behaving. So, I have shared today’s Scriptures with you, and added just a few more comments.
The part of “respecting those who are different,” is a lesson to be reinforced in our thinking and behaving, as adults, as believers. As one adult Sunday School student said as we were discussing evangelizing outside of our ethnic, racial, age, and nationality identification, “We, grown folks, have a tendency to be ethnocentric.” She was correct! In Ariel’s Lessons, she says earlier in the story, “I’m not like those people,” referring to some kids who were speaking Spanish. Incidentally she had overlooked the fact that her grandmother was 100% Latino, so her answer was not really accurate. Grandpa brought it to her attention. Not respecting others finds its roots, not only in ethnocentrism, but also in recognizing who we are and what our own origin looks like.
What I want to emphasize the most are the first words of I Peter 2:17, “Show respect for all men [treat them honorably].” As you can tell, this is another way to answer the inquiring young boy’s question. And this Bible based answer lets you and me know precisely what respect means. Furthermore, to respect all men will take more than just a little bit of respect, more than a little R-E-S-P-E-C-T. It will take some reverence of God, as well as some help from the Holy Spirit. Keep in mind, showing respect to one individual is important, and as we have said before, your Christ-like behavior demonstrated in the presence of one person can change the whole world, to some degree.
Think on these things. Have a super Saturday! Don’t forget where you are supposed to be on Sunday, tomorrow. This is where the inquisitive 5-year-old would say, “Where?”. And this is where I answer, “In the assembly of the saints…in church.” Love you! Make the words in the song you sing true, “I’m going to treat everybody right.” Smile! Be blessed!
“Love endures long and is patient and kind.” (I Corinthians 13:4a Amplified Bible, Classic Edition)
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King