You have to try

1 Thessalonians 5: 14-15

 

¹⁴And we urge you, brothers, warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone. ¹⁵Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else.

 

Warn, encourage, help, be patient……Funny how we seem to be so much better at the opposite of each of these! We let people fall into the traps that we clearly see around us, we tear down others to promote ourselves, we turn our backs on our brothers, lest they get the credit for our work, and we do not have the time of day for anyone other than ourselves! I know I am not the only person who reads the Bible……so how are so many of us missing these very simple, very plain truths on how we should treat each other? I am in no way saying we should be perfect, even Paul tells us that we should always TRY to be kind to each other…..but if we are putting forth the effort, shouldn’t we see more kindness than indifference? We are all human, we will make mistakes, but we cannot let that keep us from trying. We cannot use the excuse that it is to hard, or that it takes to much effort. We have to persevere for the Lord, we have to make the effort, we have to TRY! Indifference or turning a blind eye is the same as inflicting the pain ourselves. We are better than that! You have to set your mind each day on the Lord. Remember why we are here…..and if you are thinking to yourself right now that the reason is to get a bigger house or paycheck…….sorry that would be the wrong answer! We are here for each other, we are here to be living examples of Christ, we may not be the best examples, we might miss the mark, but we are the only living examples that are here for people to see; so we have to try. Think of these actions each morning, warn, encourage, help, and be patient, then try to put the first on your list. Yes you might fall short, we all do from time to time……but we have to try.

 

Peace,

Brian