Devotion: R-E-S-P-E-C-T

“Respect everyone, and love the family of believers. Fear God, and respect the king.” (1 Peter 2:17 NLT)

 It was a rainy winter afternoon. Our youngest son was in middle school, and I was walking down the school hallway after a meeting. As I opened my umbrella to ward off the chilly shower, I heard a woman’s voice pipe up.

“Hello? Excuse me. May I ask you a question?”

I turned to see one of the lunchroom workers. “Are you Spencer’s mother?” she inquired, adjusting her hairnet.

“Yes,” I answered. “Is something wrong?” My heart fluttered and fretted. I had just left the vice principal’s office, where my son sat busted for pulling a stunt in class—one he and his friends found completely hysterical but in which the substitute teacher saw no humor. I was not bursting with parental pride. Now I feared he’d also misbehaved in the lunchroom.

“Oh, no. Nothing is wrong at all!” she said. “I just wanted to tell you how respectful your son is. He never fails to ask if I’m having a good day or flash a huge smile and thank me when I hand him his food. And he addresses me as ‘ma’am’ and calls the custodian ‘sir.’ Such a fine and respectful son you’ve raised!”

To say that her words thrilled this parent’s heart would be an understatement. In fact, it was a little kiss from God when this thoughtful school employee pointed out a positive quality she saw in my teenage son’s behavior.

Respect is frequently absent in our society. In person—and especially online—snarkiness and sarcasm often rule. Talking down to someone and insulting one another is the new norm. Among both adults and kids, respect is often nowhere to be found. No longer do we use terms like “sir” and “ma’am” when speaking to a stranger. Addressing elders with terms of esteem is rare. And respect for authority seems to have gone out of style long ago.

Today’s digital world has taken this to a new level. It has become commonplace to sling opinions on a screen, whether on social media or by leaving a comment on a blog post. And unfortunately, sometimes these comments and thoughts aren’t tucked within an envelope of respect. Instead they are laced with cynicism, mockery, or disdain.

However, today’s challenge verse talks about respect. And not just respecting those in authority, like a teacher, a police officer, or a judge. It goes so far as to say that we are to respect everyone.

Everyone.

Does this mean the grumpy neighbor whose dog uses your yard as an outhouse? Yes.

Does it include your combative relative who never speaks respectfully to you? Yes.

What about the difficult person on that committee with you, whose personality and behavior get on your very last nerve? Yep. That one too.

We can learn to speak respectfully no matter the situation. By drawing on the power of the Holy Spirit to temper our tongues and help us weigh our words, we can speak in a polite tone. This doesn’t mean we don’t speak the truth. It just means we verbalize it in an honorable and honoring way. We can reflect the love of Jesus when we engage in conversations with a calm, collected, and civil tone.

Then others might notice—as in the case of the lunchroom lady and my prank-pulling son—that our speech isn’t snappy, impolite, or rude. Our language is respectful. Our words are honoring to those we are addressing and, more importantly, to God.

Here is a takeaway for us to remember: Respecting others shows our respect for God. I used to read the phrase “fear God” and get confused. What does it mean to fear God? Isn’t God love? If so, why should we be scared of him? But in Scripture, fearing God has more to do with being in awe of him, reverencing him, and respecting him. And since humans have been made in God’s likeness and bear his image, when we respect others with our words and actions, we are also revering God.

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Father, help me think before I speak, making sure my words are respectful. Let my tone be tempered and my manner kind. I want to please you and honor others with my speech. In Jesus’s name, amen.

Scripture for Reflection

“If you love those who love you, what credit is that to you? Even sinners love those who love them.” (Luke 6:32 NIV)

“Love each other with genuine affection, and take delight in honoring each other.” (Romans 12:10 NLT)

Reach for More

Is there someone to whom you have a hard time speaking respectfully? Why do you think you have trouble showing that person respect with your speech?

Here’s the challenge: Think about the person you just named. It’s been said if we look hard enough, we can find a good quality in anyone. So name one good quality about this person.

Okay . . . deep breath . . . reach out to that person with your words this week—either spoken, written, texted, or typed—and say you admire that quality in them. Do not expect a response.  Do it only to show love and display respect.

If you’d like to join others in a more in-depth challenge, please visit and like the Doing Lent Together Facebook page.  We will be going through the Zip It book together from March 1–April 15, 2017.

Please, come back and leave a comment telling us about how God spoke to you this week, or share your progress on social media using the hashtag #tgtreachformore. We would love to hear from you!

Karen Ehman is a Proverbs 31 Ministries speaker and New York Times best-selling author. Described as profoundly practical, engagingly funny and downright real, her passion is to help women to live their priorities and love their lives as they serve God and others. Karen writes for Encouragement for Today, is the Speaker Track Director of Proverbs 31’s She Speaks Conference and a teaching staff member of their writers’ training site COMPEL, and has authored eight books including Listen, Love, Repeat: Other-Centered Living in a Self-Centered World. Her favorite ways to spend her time, though, are to chat with her grown daughter, watch her oldest son pop wheelies on his dirt bike, and cheer for her youngest son in the football stands or baseball bleachers. She also is content to just hang out with her man doing absolutely nothing at all. You can find her at karenehman.com.

Photograph © Tony Lam Hoang, used with permission