Show Others Love And Respect

"Show proper respect to everyone; Love the brotherhood of believers, fear God, honor the king."  1 Peter 2:17 (NIV)

The Apostle Peter told the believers that they were the chosen people of God, (1 Peter 2:10), and their behavior should reflect that.  They were to live in a Christ-like manner, even though they lived among the pagans. (1 Peter 2:12 and 2:15)  They were to submit to the proper authorities and obey the laws of the land. (1 Peter 2:13-14)  He also told them to show the proper respect to everyone, to love their fellow man, and to obey God.  

Jesus, The Christ, taught us that we are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. (Matthew 22:39, Mark 12:31, and Luke 10:27)  Jesus also taught us that we should love our enemies. (Matthew 5:44, Luke 6:27, and Luke 6:35)  Under the divine inspiration of The Holy Spirit of God, Peter said that we should respect everyone.  This means that as believers, we are to love and respect everyone.  This is only possible if we have The Holy Spirit of God within us and we exhibit the fruit of The Spirit. (Galatians 5:22-23)  Unfortunately, most people do not behave like this, so we are to be living examples of Christ-like behavior. (Matthew 5:16)  We are the only "Bible" that some people will ever "read", and our actions will speak louder than our words, especially if the two of them are not consistent and in agreement.