Respected

I respect people who are truthful and honorable. It is hard to respect an arrogant person even though they might be truthful. I have met people who appeared arrogant at first, but once I got to know them, they were not arrogant. They were humble at heart, but their confident demeanor was misinterpreted by me. I don’t have much respect for people who lie, cheat or steal. There are people who have a level of respect due to their position, but I believe deep and profound respect is earned and built. Police officers and leaders of our community, state and nation have my respect because of the position they hold. If they are dishonest and corrupt, they have lost my respect (not that I’m a person of significance) for sure.

I’ve been tracking the last few days as Moses and Aaron are meeting with Pharaoh, king of Egypt about letting the Israelites go into the wilderness on a worship retreat that is actually the exodus from Egypt. The Lord has sent several plagues and Pharaoh was warned in advance. The Lord is about to issue the final and most devastating blow to the Egyptians. I found it interesting that Moses who was leading and later the writer of these events puts a bit of commentary about how the Egyptian people felt about the people of Israel. Check this out….

³ (The Lord made the Egyptians favorably disposed toward the people, and Moses himself was highly regarded in Egypt by Pharaoh’s officials and by the people.) (Exodus 11:3 NLT)

This one verse jumped out at me because the Egyptian people has endured nine other plagues, including: gnats, flies, locusts and hail to name a few. It’s interesting that even the leaders close to Pharaoh even respected Moses. This inspired me even more to want God’s favor upon me and my family. I believe that God was the REASON for Moses to be respected and honored by the Egyptian people and leaders. Moses followed God’s lead. Moses sought God’s help at every turn.  I don’t think Pharaoh felt the same way about Moses as his leaders and people did. Pharaoh seemed to be about himself, his position and his kingdom. I believe that Moses commanded respect because of his humility mixed with confidence in God. He was not a “normal” leader. He was different because He walked with God.

Gaining respect of others isn’t a goal, it’s a result of following God wholeheartedly and seeking to honor Him with my life.  I’m ok if people don’t respect me – I still want to be civil and respectable even to people I don’t trust or respect. I believe that behavior honors God Who created them in His image.  I want my faith to more important to me than whether or not I’m respected. I believe respect is a two-way street, but I’ve definitely seen it when it’s only one direction.  I want to simply live my life to honor my Creator God Who calls me to serve and love others with my very life.

Pressing On!

Dwayne