Final Lifestyle

Vol 2 No 33 THEO'S DEVOS

1 Peter 3:8,9a Finally, all of you should be of one mind, full of sympathy toward each other, loving one another with tender hearts and humble minds. 9Don’t repay evil for evil. Don’t retaliate when people say unkind things about you. Instead, pay them back with a blessing.

What do you think of others? I mean do you constantly find yourself criticizing other people or are you quick to think good of them. It would appear that after what God saved us from, we should be so grateful to Him that we have a hard time faulting others but, somehow, we manage to. Have you ever noticed, however, how hard it is to be around someone who seems to have negative things to say about just about everything? It almost gets depressing. The problem with criticism is that it is so hard to come by.

When I pastored a church, I noticed that just about any idea that someone had could be shot down by someone else and that is why most churches go nowhere. If a project can be halted by one or two naysayers, then no project is going to move forward. I remember saying on a couple of occasions: “Now there may be 100 ways that this idea will not work. They are easy to state and any of us could come up with them. So lets not waste time spelling them out. Let's see if there is one way that this idea 'could' work. If we can think of it then let's move forward and, if we can't think of even one way that it will work then let's move on to something else.” I have found that it is the easiest thing in the world to find ways that things won't work or to find something negative in someone else's life. Anyone and everyone can do it. The Bible calls us to be different kinds of people. With the help of the Holy Spirit we are asked to look for the good in people and treat them with sympathy out of a humble mind.

Peter tells us that this is true even when the negative in someone else shows itself by their saying unkind things about you. Our natural reaction is to hit back. This reminds me of Barry McGuire in a concert one time saying that sin flies around the world like lightning bolts. When we get hit by one we raise our shields and strike back. This acts like a ricochet and someone else gets hit. When hit we feel the shock and disparately want to protect ourselves. Barry said that his prayer was to be a shock absorber and I thought that was a great idea. When hit by a bolt of sin, flung by someone directly at you, don't hit back. Absorb the shock, give it to God and let Him ease your pain. That tactic will fulfill the directive given by Peter in these verses and will go a long way toward helping that person who was throwing the pain around to deal with the shock themselves. It may even help them become a shock absorber too.

As I have been writing this devo it occurred to me that, perhaps, some of us are not aware of how critical we have become. It just may be that we think we are encouragers when, in fact, we have become discouragers instead. It might be a good time to find out. There are a couple of things you can do to determine just how much of an encourager you are. One thing you might try is to keep a piece of paper in your pocket and whenever you find yourself saying something positive make a check mark in the positive column. Whenever you say something negative put a check in the negative column (Ok so I should have told you to mark those columns first but you get the idea.) Then, at the end of the day, take a look at the columns and see how you did. Did the positives way outweigh the negatives. If not take a look again at how you relate to those around you. Another thing you might do, but be careful with this one, is to give someone the right to point out every time you say something negative. This will call attention to something that may be going unnoticed. Now I have said to note negatives and positives because that will allow you to notice how much you focus on negative things and how much you focus on positive things. This will really uncover the real problem. Being more positive than negative may not be easy but it can be done. Why?

We can do this because Jesus is alive and well and living in us. He is the reason for our belief and He is the one who helps us do these things that would be simply impossible on our own. I can across an interesting video on YouTube that I will pass on to you. It is by one of Ravi Zacharia's associates and it is only 5 minutes long but makes a very important point about our faith. I hope you can open it. You should be able to hear it simply by clicking the words in blue below.

May God help you to follow the path of humility and kindness and may He start with me. I am praying for you, please pray for each other. Have a blessed day today.

:www.youtube.com/watch?v=oJjLlJb1wE0


Oh and by the way, take a look at this and act on it if you think it is a good idea, I do.

 Please take the time to do this!
 
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http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/10103521/
 


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