"Pay to all what is due them - taxes to whom taxes are due, revenue to whom revenue is due, respect to whom respect is due, honor to whom honor is due."
(Romans 13:7)
It's officially February now. Time to start working on taxes. (Actually, full disclosure here... Jody does all the tax-prep work for us!) For most of us, it's not a question of "IF" we will pay taxes (like it was in Jesus' day)... but rather "WHEN" (as in how close to the 1:59pm deadline on April 15th?!). Giving people respect & honor, however, is another story.
Towards t he end of his letter to the church in Rome, Paul encourages the believers to do 4 things: Give the taxes, revenue, respect & honor that is due people. Period. It's the last 2 categories that struck me today.
We in America value our freedom - including free speech. We exercise that speech quite often in expressing our displeasure with people - elected officials, soccer referees, our bosses, law enforcement, criminals, the homeless, Drug addicts & Drug dealers, cable/phone repair people, etc. Some of them, by their position and/or title are truly due respect - whether we agree with their policies/actions/statements or not. We frequently do NOT afford respect to many of them. And honor? Wouldn't Jesus have wanted us to treat ALL people with love & honor? Probably. He did. Again, there are many we don't grant honor to. "But they don't deserve it!" you say to me. Maybe that's true. But Jesus challenged us (commanded us!) to love our enemies & pray for those who hurt (or frustrate, anger, embarrass) her.
Respect & honor. I'm sure I could be giving more of them both than I currently do.
How about you?
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