R-E-S-P-E-C-T...

"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?

"Speaking of..."

"Do not speak harshly to an older man, but speak to him as a father, to younger men as brothers, to older women as mothers, to younger women as sisters - with absolute purity."

(1 Timothy 5:1-2)

"Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words can never hurt me!" So we sang as children. And yet, as we grew up, we realized that wasn't exactly true. Words can hurt. Words do hurt. Regularly.

Certain parts of the country seem to place a premium on respectful words - at least initially. "Southern hospitality" raised generations to say, "Yes ma'am, no sir." Here in Hawaii, our children are taught to call any older man "Uncle," and any older woman "Aunty" (whether they're related to us or not!). The military community teaches "Yes, sir!" and "No, ma'am"... and their children are (by and large) very respectful. Respectful speech is underrated.

The apostle Paul must have sensed that, too. He instructs Timothy to speak to everyone with the utmost respect - older men as fathers, older women as mothers, younger men as brothers, and younger women as sisters (of course, that assumes one already speaks with tenderness & respect to their family members!). But Paul adds one caveat on the end of these instructions - "with absolute purity." Maybe this is a remark meant to cover all 4 groups of people previously mentioned... but somehow I think it refers specifically to younger women. Could it be that men back in Timothy's day often said inappropriate things to younger women - especially when they found them attractive (like we do so frequently today!)?

What would it mean for us to speak with "absolute purity" to everyone today (especially to younger women)? Maybe people would come to feel valued & respected for who they were, not for how they looked? That's what God intends. We're all made in God's image... whether we're young & vivacious... or more "mature". Hmmmm... sounds like an easy enough assignment... but can we live it out? By the grace of God... YES!!!