I Peter 2:17 – Show proper respect to everyone: Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king. (NIV)
Over the past five days, I have been sequestered in my house, fighting a very persistent “bug”. It has been frustrating, as there was much I’d planned to accomplish within those days! While resting, I’ve had much time to read quietly and contemplate. I will also admit to scrolling social media and catching up on Facebook. I’ve retained quite a few Facebook friends over the years and am thankful for this way to at least marginally keep in touch with some who I never actually see. With our recent midterm elections behind us, there was quite a bit of online buzz about the results. I normally don’t address politics in my Reflections, but want to here for some very specific reasons…. Where has respect gone in our present political climate?
Our Sunday night Bible study group is going through the book of I Peter. The verse showcased above is one we discussed a week ago. This verse encapsulates how to show respect. Notice the colon after “everyone”? What comes next is a list of three. First and foremost is to love the brotherhood of believers. One way of loving is to watch our words! One social media post I read while too congested to sleep called a fellow Christian “satanic” because she belonged to an opposing political party. There were other numerous comments from this faith-based community that saddened me as well. In our passionate stances on current issues, it is so easy to get incensed and let the words fly. We feel indignant when a fellow Christian disagrees with something we staunchly believe is right. To say nothing and remain silent, can diminish us. To respond with angry words, diminishes them. There are times when we need to give conscientious push-back, but our comments must be carefully worded in love.
The second listed item in our focus verse is to fear God. As a child, I truly feared God in a terror sort of way. It always seemed to me that, above all, God was very angry. To this day, I struggle with always feeling that God is disappointed in me. I’m not genuine enough, prayerful enough, spiritual enough … really just not “enough”. Intellectually though, I know that Biblical fear is actually being in awe of God. The beauty of nature, the miracle of life, the connectedness of our universe all points to a really awesome God! Humanity has many reasons for awe! And … awe of God can reign in our behavior toward other created beings. When we look at one another as loving manifestations of God’s creation, it is hard to proceed with actions and words that are destructive.
The third listed item in the focus verse is to honor the king. Our Bible study group had an interesting conversation on how this translates into now. In my twenty years of teaching, my career spanned four presidents. Not a single president got a “pass” on middle school snarky comments, which no doubt originated from parental conversations at home. Our children are listening! Those teachable moments were used to reinforce the fact that positions of power do deserve our respect. Words matter, even when we don’t agree with the individual in office. Our democracy erodes when smack talk defines a conversation, no matter the age of the participant.
Dear Lord, may we be ever mindful of our words. Once spoken, they can never be taken back. Help us to find loving ways to speak our minds without diminishing the other person. May Your love define our language.
Blessings to all, Diana
Questions for reflection:
- How do you handle conversations that veer off into emotionally charged, unkind words?
- Does anyone else feel that God is always angry with them? This is one from childhood that I haven’t yet shaken.
- What is your interpretation of “honor the king”? How should that look today?
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