The content of the human heart

I was sinful at birth, sinful from the time my mother conceived me (Psalm 51:5).

We are taught to respect other people, regardless of their skin color or social standing, their financial situation or their age. We are told that in order to show love, we must accept other people—accept their ideas and traditions, accept their lifestyle choices and behavior.

We must be taught to show love and respect, because such behavior does not come naturally. Children are born selfish and egotistical—every infant believes that he is the most important person in the universe and should have his needs catered to immediately. If you make a baby wait or tell her no, you can expect lots of big tears and loud screaming.

It goes against our grain to show love and respect to others. We’d rather boss people around than have to ask them nicely. We’re not interested in sharing or waiting our turn. We want to be complimented, not corrected.

Such behavior leads to the forming of cliques. We surround ourselves with people who think like we do and echo our opinions. This gives us the ability to treat others with disdain. We can sneer at people with bad fashion sense. We can throw insults at those who are poor or shy or disabled in some way. We can tell nasty jokes about people with differing political views. We can gang up on someone we dislike for being different, and teach them a lesson through the use of violence.

As we grow older, we discover that words of love and respect can be useful tools for manipulating others. A man can use words of love to get a woman into bed. A woman can use words of respect to sweet-talk a patrolman out of giving her a ticket.

Acting out of genuine love and respect does not come naturally to us. We have to be taught such behavior. We have to see it modeled by others. This is one reason why Jesus came to live among us. From ancient times, God has told us the importance of showing love and respect to others—that’s what the Ten Commandments are all about. But we don’t listen, so Jesus came and showed us Himself what a life of love and respect looks like. When compared to Jesus’ perfect example, our selfish and egotistical lives look empty and meaningless, giving us the desire for something better.