Love, Respect and Dignity

One observation I have made through the years is that people often treat others according to their status.

In business, people tend to treat their bosses with more respect than they do their employees.

People in high positions of government expect to be addressed in certain ways.

In the world, it often boils down to what the other person can do for you.

I honestly believe that this is one area in life where Christians have a real advantage.

Jesus told us to love our neighbor.

Mark 12:30-31 (NET) - Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.’ The second is: ‘Love your neighbor as yourself.’ There is no other commandment greater than these.”

That means we are to love everyone.

It does not matter what their worldly status happens to be.

It does not matter whether they can do things for us or not.

It does not even matter that they may not love us in return.

Other verses echo this as well.

Galatians 5:14 (NET) – For the whole law can be summed up in a single commandment, namely, “You must love your neighbor as yourself.”

What does loving our neighbor mean?

For one thing, it means treating everyone with respect and dignity.

The same respect and dignity we like to enjoy ourselves,

This is what I meant when I said the Christian has an advantage.

By treating everyone equally, we do not have to choose how we will treat an individual.

One of my favorite authors and theologians is John Amos Comenius (1592-1670).

He once put it this way: “Whenever you encounter one of your neighbors, regard him as yourself in another form (which he is), or indeed as God in another form, for he is the image of God, and God will be watching to see how reverently you treat him.”

Blessings,

Jim Pokorny

The Other Brother Jim

Look for me at http://otherbrotherjim.blogspot.com/ on Friday, July 27, 2018.

I’ll be back here on Friday, August 3, 2018