Respect

According to Webster's Dictionary, RESPECT is defined as "to consider worthy of high regard." But RESPECT has so much more built into the meaning of it. Although, some may disagree, I think the meaning stems from the beginning of time and with Biblical standards. We are suppose to be taught early in childhood on how to respect. You are to respect things and most importantly people. You don't break things- "you break it, you buy." You don't steal-"you can go to jail." You say "yes m'am" and "no m'am" when someone asks you something or tells you something to do. You refer to people as Mr. & Mrs. if need be. Or even for us at school, we refer to people as Brother or Sister(insert name here.) Who cares if you want to do it or not, it's respectful. It's a teaching tool that SHOULD begin at a very early age. But even if you are never taught this, it doesn't take much effort to look around and see what other people do. I see people who are disrecptful to other people or things and think to myself that is the opposite of what I want to be or what I want to do. I see people post their rants on Facebook all the time. I try very hard not to do that. That doesn't mean I don't rant. My husband and my closest friends know my rants. But I TRY(keyword here) to stay positive and upbeat. But most importantly I try to respect people. There are so many things that you can do to respect people other than saying "yes m'am" or "no m'am" or "yes sir" or "no sir." It's about being kind. I cannot begin to tell you how many times I would LOVE nothing more than to tell somebody off. But what good does that do anybody? Philippians 2:14-15 says, "Do all things without murmurings and disputings: That ye may be blamemless and harmless, the sons of God, without rebuke, in the midst of a crooked and perverse nation, among whom ye shine as lights in the world." Which leads into Matthew 5:16, "Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good words and glorify your Father which is in Heaven." Is our light glowing bright and beautiful or is it dark and dim? As Christians, we are suppose to have an effect on those around us but if our light isn't what it is suppose to be, how can we expect to share God's word to others. If you have a negative and ugly attitude, what are you teaching others? Why would we want to teach others to have that type of attitude and how can we expect others to even want to be around us? Ephesians 4:29, "Let no corrupt communication proceed out of your mouth, but that which is good to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers." We all come from different backgrounds and as you get older and you starting growing into yourself, we have tendencies that stem from what we grew up with. Everything you do is a learned behavior. Whether you learned it from you parents, teachers, preachers, friends or family. Or whether you learn it on your own by reading the scriptures. We are the ONLY ones that have the power to change ourselves because we control our willpower. And we can learn to RESPECT those around us and respect ourselves. So if you have learned nothing else from this, then learn this, Romans 12:21, "Be not overcome of evil, but overcome evil with good." Evil isn't necessarily a "bad" person that kills or steals. Evil can come from ourselves with our words and our actions. Let your light shine. Live your life to glorify God. Do your words and actions glorify God? And as I sit here and type that, I ask myself that same question.