Lately I have been thinking a lot about how I treat others, do I show them respect, love, forgiveness, compassion, understanding... the list could go on, but one of the things that keeps being reminded to me is how important it is to encourage others. Wouldn't it be wonderful if just for one day we were able to sit back and look at the life of people around us and realise what was actually happening for them at that time. What was really happening not the facade that they want you to see so you believe they are OK. If we were able to do this we might realise how important it was to give them some positive encouragement, some people are so surrounded by negatives and doubts that they actually start to believe that they are worthless. We need to make sure we are not contributing to that feeling but supporting them and lifting them up and sharing the love of God with them, not when we choose but always. If we start to treat the people around us with grace, mercy ,and love we can actually help them to believe in themselves and ultimately believe in God.
We as Christians have to be the ones who show them and teach them about Gods forgiveness and encourage them to keep on believing ,keep on forgiving ,keep on loving ,keep on trusting, keep on trying... I get worried when people give up trying for fear of failing but if they are constantly being told they are failures who can blame them. We want people to be proactive and try new things yet we continually shoot them down and feed them negatives !
Just imagine what effect we could have if we simply encouraged each other, showed love and understanding to each other, and gave people the respect we expect from others. Maybe we need to start listening rather than judging, caring rather than criticising, and loving rather than disrespecting. Maybe then people would actually share their heartaches with us, maybe then they would trust us with the real cries of anguish in their lives. Maybe they would see the Love of Jesus in us !!! Please let it be so ! I pray that people would see me as a support, a friend, a listening ear... and importantly an encouragement along life's journey.
So today do everyone a favour encourage someone, anyone. And maybe someone will encourage you back, we could start a revolution this way.
May God Bless you each as you strive to encourage others.
3 comments:
WOW
Much grace to you as you fulfil this in your life
yeah i agree, how you treat others is very important, it always feels good to be encouraged =) and it puts a smile on ya dial!
Bless ya
Hey Darren, good post.
I heard someone say once (maybe Rob Bell??) that the way you treat people and the environment around you says a lot about what you think about God... Food for thought I think.
Keep up the good work,
Joel
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