THE POWER OF R-E-S-P-E-C-T by Dr. SEGUN Oshinaga

Respect is a powerful attitude of a winner. If you are going to have a breakthrough, you will have to learn to have respect for people, both old and young. Many young people have a serious disease called 'rudeness.' They talk rudely and greet rudely.
Rudeness will drive favour from you. Rudeness will frustrate your destiny. Men who cannot respect other men cannot truly respect God. They cannot respect ideas. They cannot respect their destinies. An attitude of respect is necessary to open doors for you.
“Be kindly affectioned one to another with brotherly love; in honour preferring one another."
Romans 12:40
Another word for respect in Scriptures is 'honour.' We need to learn to truly honour each other. I do not stick around anywhere I am not respected. Anyone who does not show you respect does not deserve your friendship. The truth is that human nature demands respect. Everyone likes to be honoured and celebrated. Respect sits well with us. Disrespect does not.
If you're going to go far in life, you will need the support, assistance and encouragement of others. You cannot enlist the support of people you generally disrespect. Moreover, it takes a man that has honour to give honour. You cannot give what you do not have. Only an honourable man can give honour. A dishonourable man can only give dishonour and rudeness.
"Honour all men. Love the brotherhood. Fear God. Honour the king."
1 Peter 2:17
They do not have to be famous to be honoured. They do not have to be rich to be honoured. The do not have to be on television to be honoured. They do not have to be driving a Mercedes Benz before they can be honoured. Fame or wealth is not the basis for respect or honour among brethren. The only qualification is that they are created by God.
During a ministry trip to Asia in 1997, I stayed with Bob, an American deacon at the New Life Fellowship in Tokyo. Bob taught me a lesson that has stayed with me till today. He answered every man with a sir and every woman with a mam. One day, Bob was talking to a woman who was much younger than him and repeatedly used the word 'mam.' When he was done talking with her, I asked him, 'why do you use mam with every woman and sir with every man?' Bob replied, 'When I was growing up, my mother taught me to show respect to everyone I meet. She taught me to answer, 'yes mam or yes sir'.
Well, since then I have adopted same. It has become a part of me that I even say 'yes sir' to my own sons. Unfortunately, many Christians have complexes, particularly inferiority complex, and to cover that, they are rude and disrespectful. They want to belong and think the way to do it is to treat everyone like their mates. I cannot stand flattery neither can I stand arrant rudeness.
Of course, if I am sowing respect, I expect to reap respect. I open doors for my elders. I take their bags or brief cases. I pay them due respect. I get along well with them. This new rude and disrespectful generation will need to be educated.
If you are not sowing honour and respect now, watch it, dishonour is growing in your backyard. A harvest of dishonour is coming your way. I don't care what amount of success you're having, honour those ahead of you. Honour your mates. Honour those behind you. God expects it and people appreciate you for it.