No matter which side of the political fence you find yourself on this historic Inauguration Day, I hope you can talk about Obama, Trump, and respect in the same sentence. Because when our society loses basic respect for core positions of leadership- political or otherwise – we will find ourselves without order, without peace, and without protection.
Imagine A World Without Respect
In a world without basic respect for the position a person holds chaos erupts. For a healthy society to function, there must be a baseline respect for those in authority.
Imagine accepting a traffic ticket from a policeman because you disagree with his comments on twitter.
Imagine your spouse had a heart-attack and you call 911… only nobody responds to the call because the paramedic’s union disagrees with the ambulance companies view on Obamacare and so they are on strike.
Imagine that your child is excluded from an honors class at school because he happened to mention that he is pro-life.
Imagine your favorite team qualified to play in the Super Bowl but had to forfeit because the star-quarterback had rallied the team against their openly gay coach.
Imagine we lose the next war because the troops hold a different worldview than the general.
Imagine the fire department won’t respond to your house fire because the fire chief disagrees with the religion you follow.
Yes, I am being facetious, but if those in places of influence continue to publicly denigrate the Office of the President it won’t be long before we will see an out and out breakdown of respect for leadership at all levels.
Obama, Trump, and Respect
Remember respect?
Webster’s has many definitions for the word respect, here is just one of them:
“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.”
Synonyms for the word respect include:
deference
honor
regard
reverence
My generation was taught to respect all authority including our cheek-pinching grandparents, our brimstone preaching pastors, our ruler smacking teachers, and the whistle-blowing policemen – and in my opinion the world was a better place then.
What the Bible Says
The Holy Bible is very clear about believers respecting all authority – whether they agree with them or not. This link has a list of several verses that refer to this, but the following verse sums it up for me:
Every person is to be in subjection to the governing authorities For there is no authority except from God, and those which exist are established by God. Therefore whoever resists authority has opposed the ordinance of God; and they who have opposed will receive condemnation upon themselves. (Romans 13)