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

Sometimes I feel like I am the audience to a game of dodge ball and the participants are trying their hardest to hit each other, but instead of staying on their side of the gym they are standing inches apart and using bowling balls. Someone gets pummeled in the face and then they turn to me - in the audience - and tells me all about it.
Oh, you know...I'm not implying they say, "Christina, did you happen to notice that my opponent just got me good?". Nope. Tattle-tale. Plain and simple! Cross their arms, stomp their feet...tattle tale.
I say, "I'm sorry, that's unfortunate; I bet that hurt."
What I really want to say is: "Why don't you all just treat each other with a little bit of respect? Why don't you honor the rules? Why don't you try a different game?"
Is respect a dying concept?
Do we feel like we strip our own power if we accede to the boundaries of another?
What gives?
This leads me to the query: what is respect?

re·spect

  [ri-spekt]  Show IPA

noun

1.

a particular, detail, or point (usually preceded by in  ): to differ in some respect.

2.

relation or reference: inquiries with respect to a route.

3.

esteem for or a sense of the worth or excellence of a person, a personal quality or ability, or something considered as a manifestation of a personal quality or ability: I have great respect for her judgment.

4.

deference to a right, privilege, privileged position, or someone or something considered to have certain rights or privileges; proper acceptance or courtesy; acknowledgment: respect for a suspect's right to counsel; to show respect for the flag; respect for the elderly.

5.

the condition of being esteemed or honored: to be held in respect.

I was rather taken by the definition of esteeming the worth and excellence of a person.
The Bible tells us that we are chosen and cherished by God (Ephesians 1), so regardless of a person's actions we are all to be treated with respect WHETHER OR NOT WE THINK THEY DESERVE IT!

Ephesians 5:33 says "Men love your wives and wives respect your husband". I see no asterisk that tells us respecting husbands is contingent on their behavior. We treat people with respect because they are created by God, made in His image, and declared valuable! In fact let's look at what Ephesians chapter one says:

Blessed be fthe God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who has blessed us in Christ with every spiritual blessing gin the heavenly places,4 heven as he ichose us in him jbefore the foundation of the world, that we should be kholy and blameless before him. In love 5 lhe predestined us2for madoption as sons through Jesus Christ, naccording to the purpose of his will, 6 oto the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in pthe Beloved. 7 qIn him we have rredemption sthrough his blood,tthe forgiveness of our trespasses, uaccording to the riches of his grace,8 which he lavished upon us, in  all wisdom and insight 9 vmaking known3to us the mystery of his will, naccording to his purpose, which he wset forth in Christ 10 as a plan for xthe fullness of time, yto unite all things in him, things in heaven and things on earth.

We are BLESSED, CHOSEN, ADOPTED, REDEEMED, FORGIVEN!

We are all unworthy of being blessed, chosen, adopted, redeemed and forgiven - yet God has declared us so.

So stop treating each other with contempt!

Stop biting and devouring one another with your venom-laced words and cold indifference. Don't you know Jesus said that what will set us apart from the lost and dying world is our love for each other? (John 13:35)