Respect: Treating Others How You Want To Be Treated

When it comes to relationships and friendships, respect has to be one of the foundational qualities. In other words, respect needs to be one of the cornerstones of a friendship or a relationship. Why? The answer is simple: If you don't respect the other person, you won't have much of a friendship or relationship with him or her. In order to have a good relationship with someone, you have to respect that person. Whether it's a friend, teacher, coach, parent, youth pastor, girlfriend, or co-worker, your relationship with that person will be terrible if you don't respect each other.

Now what exactly is respect? You may or may not know this, but Jesus gave us the definition of respect. In Luke 6:31, He says, "Do to others as you would have them do to you." I believe that to respect someone means to treat that person how you want to be treated. That is so crucial to servant romance that I will repeat it: To respect someone means to treat that person how you want to be treated. So the question now is, how do you want to be treated? Chances are that you want to be treated with honor, dignity, and respect. You want people to be patient with you, kind with you, humble towards you, respectful of you, selfless for you, honest with you, forgiving towards you, and committed to you. If you want to be treated that way, treat others that way. The saying goes, "If you want a friend, be a friend." The same is true of respect. If you want to be respected, then respect others.

So respect is very important. Guys should respect girls, and girls should respect guys. When one doesn't respect the other, it can get pretty nasty. But what are some ways you can be respectful? In other words, what are some down-to-earth ways to apply respect to your relationships? The answer is pretty simple: Guys should be gentlemen, and girls should be ladies. Respect can be formed in the simplest of ways. If you want to respect someone, then be polite, be chivalrous, and be kind. Treat that person how you would want to be treated. But it can also get complicated. Sometimes, the best way to respect someone is to give them privacy or to leave them alone. When someone is having a bad day, they may not want to hang out with you or talk to you or even text you. And you should respect that. Remember that respect means treating someone how you want to be treated. If you like being left alone on bad days, or even if you don't, do what they want and thus show them respect.

The point of respecting someone is to show them how important they are. So get out there and show your friends how important they are! Treat them how you want to be treated.