Respect part 5
There's a difference between self-respect and self-righteousness. A big difference. One you need. One you can't have. If you don't respect yourself, you can't respect anyone else. You can't give what you don't have. But when it comes to righteousness... Isaiah 64:6 says, "But we are all as an unclean thing, and all our righteousness are as filthy rags..." OUR righteousness. Self-righteousness. What we can accomplish by trying to make ourselves look bigger by trying to make others look smaller. Not contrast that with Philippians 3:9, "And be found in him, not having mine own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith." And 2 Corinthians 5:21, "For he hath made him to be sin for us, who knew no sin; that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." Did you catch that? The righteousness OF GOD. Not OUR righteousness, but HIS righteousness. That's the difference. And when we have HIS rightouesness--through faith--that's when we CAN have self-respect. That's when we can see ourselves correctly. And see each other correctly. As human being. Worthy of respect. I honesty don't even know how we got to the place where, it seems like people have become the BOTTOM of the food chain. We'll argue about anything and leave people to suffer. I don't get that. But I think it's because we don't respect ourselves. And, again, you can't give what you don't have. We don't feel respect, so we don't respect each other, so we look for other things, and other ways, to fill that void. That's why the Holy Spirit is so important. The Spirit of truth that leads and guides us into all truth. The Spirit that testifies of our true identity by testifying of Jesus. The light shining on us, and in us, and out of us, so that we can see things clearly. So that we can see what's important. So that we can keep our affection on things above, and not on things on the earth. So that we can see the things that are unseen. And I think a lot of the time the thing that is unseen is... hurt. We try to be tough guys. Because we've been taught--by the world--that asking for help is a sign of weakness. I don't think asking for help is a sign of weakness. I think asking for help is a sign of wisdom. Because I know--for a fact, learned from experience--that I can't do it all by myself. There are something things I can do. And there are some things I can't. But that doesn't make me less than, or inferior. That makes me one piece in a big puzzle. One part of a big body. The body of Christ. And if we could all do the same thing, some things wouldn't get done. I need what you can do and you need what I can do. But if I get all self-righteous and make you feel bad about what you can do... if I disrespect you... then really I'M the one missing out. But if I be me and let you be you... then together we can make it happen. I love Song of Solomon 5:16, "...yea, he is altogether lovely..." because I believe the reverse is that is also true. WE are lovely... all together. We can do it all. We can manifest the Son of God that all of creation is yearning for. We can truly live by loving each other. Because to live is to love and to love is to live. We can respect ourselves, and we can respect each other. We can LOVE ourselves, and love each other. Embrace ourselves, and embrace each other. We can get down off our high horses and help each other up. To me, helping someone is the ultimate sign of respect!