That Means Everyone

• How do you show respect to someone?

• How does it feel when someone shows you respect?

Show proper respect to everyone, love the family of believers, fear God, honor the emperor.
1 Peter 2:17

Ethan acted like he was better than everyone else. He felt that he had it all together, that he knew everything he needed to know. He was disrespectful to his peers, their parents, his teachers and coaches, acting as if they couldn’t teach him anything because they didn’t go to church.

Unfortunately, these people associated Ethan’s lack of respect with his claims of faith. Over time, Ethan did a lot of damage to God’s name. From Ethan’s behavior, people began to think that they were not good enough for God. Because of his conduct, people decided they wanted nothing to do with his God.

As Peter writes, believers are to show proper respect to everyone, including non-Christians. We don’t have to agree with everything that people do, but we do need to show them respect.

PRAYER
Dear God, please help us to show proper respect to everyone we meet. Amen.