Let’s face it: working with people is difficult. With other people come different opinions, different goals, conflicts, and so much more. We may have different opinions, views, goals, and desires than the people around us, but one thing is sure: we can control how we treat the people around us who we might not agree with or have the same goals as. We can treat them with respect. In fact, when we treat others this way, we reflect Christ, who modeled respect for everyone, even His enemies, while on this earth.
Peter reminds us of the importance of treating everyone around us with respect in 1 Peter 2. In this chapter, he wrote that followers of Christ are to live differently than the rest of the world. Part of living differently than the rest of the world, Peter explained, means treating people differently than the rest of the world. You see, the world tells us to look after ourselves and view our needs and wants as most important. God calls His people to a different way of living. That is why Peter wrote in 1 Peter 2, “Respect everyone, and love the family of believers” (verse 17). “Respect everyone,” Peter wrote. Notice the word “everyone” in this verse. It is all-inclusive. After all, Peter wrote this book of the Bible during a time when the early church was being persecuted. Even in the middle of persecution, Peter calls his readers to respect every single person they encounter, even those causing persecution. We may not always agree with those around us, but we can always show respect.
Although we use the word “respect” often, it may be helpful to take a look at the dictionary definition for this word in order to understand just what it looks like to show respect to those around us. The Merriam-Webster dictionary defines respect as "a relation or reference to a particular thing or situation,” “an act of giving particular attention,” or “high or special regard.” Put simply, showing respect means viewing each person on earth as valuable and important because they are valuable and important. Do you want to know how valuable each person is to God? John 3:16 says that people are so loved and valuable to God that He “gave His one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in Him will not parish but have eternal life.” Every human is so valuable to God that sent Jesus to die on the cross for them.
It is time for each one of us to choose to treat everyone, and I mean everyone, with respect. Each person is valued and loved by God and should be treated as valuable and as loved as they are. Will you choose today to think about others over yourself and respect each person you encounter?
Take some time now to ask God to help you as you seek to treat people with respect today. Ask Him to help you show the same love and respect to every single person that He has for them. May the honor, respect, and kindness that you show others point them straight to their Creator, who loves them more than anything.
1There was a man named Nicodemus, a Jewish religious leader who was a Pharisee. 2 After dark one evening, he came to speak with Jesus. “Rabbi,” he said, “we all know that God has sent you to teach us. Your miraculous signs are evidence that God is with you.”
3 Jesus replied, “I tell you the truth, unless you are born again, you cannot see the Kingdom of God.”
4 “What do you mean?” exclaimed Nicodemus. “How can an old man go back into his mother’s womb and be born again?”
5 Jesus replied, “I assure you, no one can enter the Kingdom of God without being born of water and the Spirit. 6 Humans can reproduce only human life, but the Holy Spirit gives birth to spiritual life. 7 So don’t be surprised when I say, ‘You must be born again.’ 8 The wind blows wherever it wants. Just as you can hear the wind but can’t tell where it comes from or where it is going, so you can’t explain how people are born of the Spirit.”
9 “How are these things possible?” Nicodemus asked.
10 Jesus replied, “You are a respected Jewish teacher, and yet you don’t understand these things? 11 I assure you, we tell you what we know and have seen, and yet you won’t believe our testimony. 12 But if you don’t believe me when I tell you about earthly things, how can you possibly believe if I tell you about heavenly things? 13 No one has ever gone to heaven and returned. But the Son of Man has come down from heaven. 14 And as Moses lifted up the bronze snake on a pole in the wilderness, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, 15 so that everyone who believes in him will have eternal life.
16 “For this is how God loved the world: He gave his one and only Son, so that everyone who believes in him will not perish but have eternal life. 17 God sent his Son into the world not to judge the world, but to save the world through him.
18 “There is no judgment against anyone who believes in him. But anyone who does not believe in him has already been judged for not believing in God’s one and only Son. 19 And the judgment is based on this fact: God’s light came into the world, but people loved the darkness more than the light, for their actions were evil. 20 All who do evil hate the light and refuse to go near it for fear their sins will be exposed.
