One of the things from my youth that I miss most is respect. We were taught to respect others, especially our elders and those in authority. It was taught as a civil way to behave, but it is scriptural. Peter writes, “Respect everyone, and love the family of believers. Fear God and respect the king.” (1 Peter 2:17)
When I trained employees I always taught them the golden rule of customer service. “Always treat your customer like you want to be treated when you are a customer; unless you’re a masochist. That usually elicited a smile, while getting my point across. But toward the end of my career I started seeing a puzzled look and I had to explain what a masochist is. The actual Golden Rule is found in Matthew 7:12. “Do to others as you would like them to do to you.” Everyone longs to be respected so we should respect others and what we sow, we will reap.
When I was a young man, we could disagree with someone without becoming disagreeable. We could actually discuss our differences and still remain friends. In this world today, if someone disagrees with you they are your enemy. You must attack them and force them to accept your position. Right now I have over 200 friends on Face Book. I have never unfriended anyone for their religious or political views. I have friends who are avowed atheists; who have completely different political views; and who have a different view of the Christian life than I do. Of course, there are also many who share the Christian life with me. I have only been unfriended one time. Without getting into details, his college professor told him a political lie. I had direct personal knowledge that it didn’t happen and I shared that knowledge with him. He could not believe that professor lied to him so he unfriended me. Mark Twain was right when he wrote, “It is easier to get someone to believe a lie than it is to convince them what they believe is a lie.”
The world tries to squeeze Christians into its mold; and if there is no longer a difference between our life and theirs; they have succeeded. We know that we can’t force anyone to believe as we do, but when we isolate ourselves from them, we lose the opportunity to show them the difference Christ has made in our life. The Holy Spirit guides me on social media. He speeds me past some hateful posts and instructs me to comment respectfully on others without name calling or finger pointing; just stating this old man’s experience and point of view. I am hopeful that I have planted some seeds of truth in their minds and hearts that I could not have done without respect .