“Then tidings of these things came unto the ears of the church which was in Jerusalem: and they sent forth Barnabas, that he should go as far as Antioch. 23. When he came, and had seen the grace of God was glad, and exhorted them all, that with purpose of heart they would cleave unto the Lord. 24. For he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord. 25. Then departed Barnabas to Tarsus for to seek Saul.”
The setting for the text is the beginning of the conversion of Gentiles in Antioch. In order to see what was going on there, they sent Barnabas. In Acts 4:36, we see that Barnabas was the nick name for Joses (Joseph), and meant “son of consolation. “Consolation” can be translated as “encouragement.” Barnabas was an encourager. He was just the man for the job in Antioch. We need more people like Barnabas, and the text will tell us why. First, in verse 24 we are told he “was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit.” He did not go to Antioch to enhance his resume; rather, he went there under the power of the Holy Spirit to win more people to Jesus. Second we are told that he was “full of….faith.” He was a man of faith in Jesus Christ, and he went to Antioch to share his faith in Jesus with the people of Antioch. Real faith in Jesus demands to be shared in some way. We are told that because of Barnabas’ witness of his faith, “much people were added to the Lord.” Third, in verse 25, we see the humility of Barnabas, for he went to “Tarsus for to seek Saul (Paul).” Barnabas realized that he was the encourager and needed someone with great leadership abilities and went and got Saul to help in winning Antioch to Jesus. Like Barnabas, we need to realize that we need to work with others who have differing gifts to help in the work of winning people to Jesus. We might even have to accept that God can use their gifts as well as ours, and can be even more effective than us. We need people like Barnabas today who are full of the Holy Spirit and faith, and who are willing to share the work with others. This is not the end of the story and will be continued in the next article. Bro. Joe
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“For he that will love life, and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips that they speak no guile. 11. Let him eschew evil, and do good; let him seek peace and ensue (pursue) it. 12. For the eyes of the Lord are over the righteous and, and his ears are open unto their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.” (Quote from Psalm 34:12-16.)
To make a long story short, if we want to enjoy life (see good days) our lives will please God, for “the face of the Lord is against them who do evil.” Evil causes us to live out of harmony with God and with each other. Peter tells us, quoting from Psalm 34, how we can live in harmony and enjoy life. First, he tells us we will have to watch our tongues. I know that immediately our minds turn to swearing. This is far more than just not using swear words. I think that it means to watch our tongues about how we talk about people. This means that we will be careful what we say to, or about, other people. Also, our “lips…should speak no guile.” This means that we will not use deceitful words about people. Actually, we would really say that we should not lie to or about other people. If we want to live happy Christian lives, we will watch our tongues. Second, he tell us that we will have to watch our actions: “Let him eschew (refuse, turn away from) evil, and do good.” Simply, we are to stay away sin and move toward that which is good. Simpler still, if something is obviously wrong, we just should not do it. I guess we would call this being “squeaky clean.” It is very important that Christians do what is good in their daily lives, in business dealings, and in relationships with other people. This is particularly important in our dealings with fellow church members. If we want to live happy Christian lives, we will watch our actions. Third, he tells us that we have to “seek peace and pursue it.” We are not to just seek to be peaceful, we are to “go after it,” as we would say today. If we watch our tongues and actions, we will probably be peaceful, and the Christian people around us will be at peace with us. In your relationships at home, at church, or at work, do you seek peace and pursue it? When we live like this, we are promised that: “The eyes of the Lord are over the righteous, and His ears are open to their prayers: but the face of the Lord is against them that do evil.” This actually sums up all three of these articles about living in harmony. Bro. Joe “Not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing: but contrariwise blessing; knowing that you are thereunto called, that ye should inherit a blessing.”
This verse continues the call for Christians to live in harmony. The end of this verse reminds us that if we want to “inherit a blessing,” or “be blessed” we will live in harmony. The content of this verse contains the things that we will need to do to live in harmony and be blessed. First, he tells us to stop repaying evil for evil. When someone does something to offend, or hurt us, we need to refuse to repay offense that hurts us. I have to admit that this is not an easy thing to do. It is almost a natural reflex for us to “render evil for evil.” In the Sermon on the Mount” Jesus told us to what amounts to “turn the other cheek.” I learned in my ministry that when I was offended in some way to pray for those who offended me instead of fighting back. In doing this, I not only regained their respect, but I saw that some of their criticisms were valid. Man, that’s hard to do, but if we want to have the blessings of harmony in our churches, we will have to do what this verse teaches. Second, he tells us not to pay insult for insult. (“Railing” means insulting.) The nature of an insult is that what the person has said, or done, was not fair to us. Again, the human reflex is to trade insults. I know that in my younger years in the ministry that was an almost impossible thing for me to do. I had what is called “a sharp tongue.” I learned through long and bitter experience that paying insult for insult was not just a wrong thing to do, it was the anti-Christian thing to do. Folks, this takes a lot of prayer and a lot of humility on our part. Repaying insult for insult will stunt your Christian growth. Third, he tells us that instead of rendering evil for evil or insult for insult, we should bless those who do these things to us. This is a direct command of Jesus in Matthew 5:44: “But I say unto you, love your enemies, bless them that curse you, do good to them that hate you, and pray for them which despitefully use you, and persecute you.” “It ain’t easy,” but it is Christian. If you want to be blessed and be a blessing, you will not “render evil for evil, or railing for railing.” Hey, it’s in the Bible – easy or not. Bro. Joe “Finally, be ye all of one mind, having compassion one of another, love as brethren, be pititul, be courteous.”
Having been involved in church work for fifty-six years, twenty-seven as a pastor, twenty-three as a Director of Missions, working with churches in an association, then about one year as an interim pastor, then finally serving a church for two years, I am qualified to say that “living in harmony” is a real need in churches. Peter tells us how to live in harmony in this verse. First, he told them to have compassion for each other. This doesn’t mean to just tolerate each other. To have real compassion, frankly, we have to have the mind of Christ and also heed to have the pull of the Holy Spirit. We can get awfully callous in our treatment of each other in churches. I had to watch this in my own heart as a pastor and as a Director of Missions. I had to deal with this in the treatment of church members with each other. Having real compassion for each other, will make us careful how we treat each other. Second, he told them to love as brothers/sisters. In a real sense, a church is like a big family. This means that we are joined together in the family of God by the blood of Jesus, which makes it necessary for us to love one another as brothers and sisters. Sometimes with brothers and sisters we have to overlook some personality quirks. This is true of brothers and sisters in church. Sometimes with brothers and sisters we have to just accept them because we have the same father and mother. We have to accept each other as brothers and sisters because we have the same Savior. (I might also add that Peter was not joking or speaking lightly about this matter.) Third, he told them to “be pitiful and be courteous.” “Pitiful” can be translated as “humble.” We are to act in common courteousy with our brothers and sisters in church. Sometimes we just have to “get off of our high horse” as problems arise in churches and be humbly courteous. This would sure curtail a lot of church fusses. You just have to agree with Peter’s reasoning. Think of your own relationships with people in your church. Are you really in harmony with them? Do you have compassion for them? Do you love them as brothers and sisters in Christ? Are you humbly courteous in your dealings with them? If your church was like you, would your church be in harmony? Bro. Joe “Thus saith the Lord, the heaven is my throne, and the earth is my footstool: where is the house that you build unto (for) me? And where is the place of my rest: 2. for all these my hand made, and all these things have been, saith the Lord: but to this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembles at my word.”
In this passage, Isaiah is calling the people of Judah to account for their lifestyles. He points out that the temple had lost its significance because of the way they were living. In other words, empty religious ritual does not count for anything if it is not backed up by a godly life. Today, we would say that attending church, tithing, singing hymns etc. are all empty ritual if we are living as we please. This is a message that we sorely need today as much as the Jews in Isaiah’s day. What did Isaiah say really counts? “To this person will I look, even to him or her that is poor…” He is referring to people who are “poor in spirit.” Jesus said the same thing in Matthew 5:3: “Blessed are the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven…” What this means is that God wants His people to be humble in spirit. One who is truly living by faith, knows that his or her, well-being is finally in the hands of God and not in their own resources. There comes a time in our lives when all of the best human resources are insufficient. I have reached those times in my life, and I was so glad that I knew the sufficiency of Jesus. I hope that you have all of the best that this world offers that is moral and lawful. But God’s people understand that ultimately…..and finally….their best resource is faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. “To this person will I look that is of….a contrite spirit.” This makes reference to humble submission and true repentance. Years earlier, David wrote in Psalm 51:16-17, which illustrates what Isaiah means and what we need to see: “For you desire not sacrifice; else would I give it: You do not delight in burnt offering. 2. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.” In essence, what both David and Isaiah mean is that God despises empty ritual. God loves humble submission to His will and humble confession repentance from our hearts. “This person will I look to that is poor and of a contrite heart, and trembles at my word.” Isaiah, and other prophets, literally gave the people the word that God wanted His people to hear. There was also the written word from Moses that the people were to heed. When people hear or read the word of God, they should tremble and submit to what God wants of them. The people of Isaiah’s day were ignoring a word from God, and people today ignore the word of God. It is time for us to start trembling at God’s word, and come in humble, contrite submission to God’s word and will. I sincerely hope that I have related to you the importance of these two verses for today. Bro. Joe Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the earth.”
The Bible is filled with things that are not “world friendly.” The Sermon on the Mount, from which our text is taken is filled with texts that fit this description. Here is an example: “Love your enemies, bless them that curse you, etc.” (Matthew 5:43) Another of these “outlandish” texts is: "Whosoever shall smite thee on the right cheek, turn to him the other also.” There are, unfortunately, not many people who take these seriously – including a lot of church members. The text for this article is another one of those texts that are definitely not “world friendly.” Why? First, we misunderstand what the word “meek” means. According to the Analytical Greek Lexicon, it means: “mild, gentle, kind, forgiving, benevolent, etc.” A person who has all of these qualities is a strong person, because one does not have these qualities without great faith and great discipline. A person who is meek is under God’s control. Meekness has been compared to the breaking of a horse. An unbroken horse is not fit for anything until it has been broken. When he is broken, the horse is under the rider’s control. That massive, and magnificent, animal could run, buck, or do whatever it wants, but he has been broken and does what the master wants. In other words, the person who is meek is under the master’s control and lives to do the master's will instead of his, or her, own will. These are the people that God can use to do His work in the world. For example, Psalm 25:9 tells us, “The meek will He guide in judgment, and the meek will He teach His way.” Those who are meek are teachable and able to discern God’s will, because they have surrendered their lives to God’s will. Second, we mistakenly interpret the word meek to mean “weak.” When we say that a person is meek, we say that they are weak and malleable. Nothing could be further from the truth. We should interpret the word as “strength” instead of “weakness.” Look at Numbers 12:3 for example, “Now the man Moses was very meek, above all the men which are upon the face of the earth.” If you know anything about Moses, you know that he was not a weak person. He was the man who guided the Jews through forty years of a trek through the desert from Egypt to Canaan. A weak man would not have been able to endure all of the hardships of the desert, a nomadic existence, not to mention all of the complaints of the people he was leading through the desert. Jesus Himself said in Matthew 11:28-29, “Come unto me all you that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, for I am meek and lowly in heart and you shall find rest unto your souls.” No matter what you think of the word “meek,” you will have to admit that if Moses and Jesus were meek, then we would do well to consider meekness for our own lives. The world might call us weak, but God/Jesus calls us strong. Third, the text says that “the meek shall inherit the earth.” This is a gigantic and momentous promise. The promise is not just given here, for it is given in Psalm 37:11, “But the meek shall inherit the earth; and shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace.” This is aptly described in Psalm 147:6, “The Lord lifts up the meek: He casts the wicked down to the ground.” History is littered with examples of this truth. Men have raised themselves up and thought that they could conquer the world. Alexander the Great was one of these men, and he died at the age of thirty-three without realizing his dream. The emperors of the Roman Empire almost accomplished this, but finally fell to the “unwashed” hordes. Adolf Hitler, comes to mind. His Third Reich was to last a thousand years, but it only lasted from the early twenties until nineteen forty five. Lenin, Joseph Stalin and all of the Russian leaders tried to take over the world, but they are all dead, and the world is not in their hands. But what this means is far more than a worldly kingdom. The meek will inherit the “New Heavens and the New Earth.” I want to be one of those – don’t you? We need to simply surrender our lives to Jesus Christ by faith, and let Him be our Master and guide. Do it! Bro. Joe “Who can say I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin?” KJV and NKJV
“Who can say I have kept my heart pure; I am clean and without sin?” NIV Solomon was a genius in a lot of ways, and using words to make a point was one of those ways. A lot of the pithy proverbs that he wrote can be expanded to write a book if one really puts his or her mind to it. For example, there is a lot of theological, sociological and personal wisdom in Proverbs 20:9. Solomon points out some things in this proverb that are covered in the Old and New Testaments. This proverb is about personal pride, self-righteousness and faulty thinking. Throughout the Bible we are warned about the "I" problem. Paul alluded to this problem in Romans 12:3: “For I say through the grace given unto me, to every man that is among you, not to think more highly of himself than he ought to think; but to think soberly, according as God has dealt to every man the measure of faith.” If we are not careful, we will be our own worst enemy in this matter. The “I” problem is borne of pride and pride is dealt with harshly in the Bible. In fact, Solomon mentioned pride a lot in Proverbs. In Proverbs 16:18-19, he wrote: “Pride goes before destruction and a haughty spirit before a fall. 19. Better it is to be of an humble spirit with the lowly, than to divide the spoil with the proud.” There are other verses I could cite from Proverbs, but the one I cited covers the issue. Ironically, one of the greatest evidences of the proof of the destruction of personal pride is Solomon himself. We need to see our own egotistical needs and live humbly before the Lord. Give yourself an “I” checkup, and see if you have the “I” problem. Notice the problem of self-righteousness that Solomon alludes to in the text: “Who can say I have made my heart clean, I am pure from my sin.” That sounds an awful lot like the Pharisee in Jesus’ parable in Luke 18. We see the Pharisee’s self-righteousness in verse 11: “I thank thee that I am not as other men, extortioners, unjust, adulterers, or even as this publican.” That is, indeed, evidence of an “I” problem. When people see themselves as righteous, they are lying to themselves. What they usually mean is that they are doing better than other people. The Pharisee measured himself against the publican, because he knew the reputation of publicans, that they were selfish and sinful people. In the parable, the publican looks more righteous than the Pharisee. We should never forget what Paul wrote in Romans 3:23: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Paul wrote in verses 9-10 of Romans 3: “What then? Are we better than they? No, in no wise: for we have before proved both Jews and Gentiles, that they are all under sin, 10. As it is written (Psalm 14:1), There is none good, no not one.” (I added the parentheses.) We need to live righteously, but that does not mean that we can claim self-righteousness. Notice the faulty thinking that Solomon refers to in this verse: “I have made my heart clean.” The faulty thinking is in the words, “I have made my heart clean.” No human being can make himself or herself clean. When we are cleansed from sin, it is because we have repented, confessed and been forgiven. At that point we are cleansed by the blood of Christ. ( see 1 John 1:7-9) The Christian life is not a “self-help” project. We cannot save ourselves and we cannot live the righteous life on our own virtue alone. It is Christ who died for our sins. It is Christ who forgives us for our sins. It is Christ who has given us His righteousness. It is Christ who cleanses our hearts. We did not save ourselves, and we cannot cleanse ourselves from sin. “Turning over a new leaf” only gets us to the other side of the leaf. Give Christ the glory for any victories that you have over sin. If you have an “I” problem, go to the Lord now and confess and be cleansed. Bro. Joe “Then came Peter to (Jesus) and said, Lord how often shall my brother sin against me, and I forgive him? Till seven times? 22. Jesus said unto him, I say not unto thee, until seventy times: but, until seventy times seven.”
Some of my great moments of truth come to me in the morning when I am shaving and looking at myself in the mirror. When one comes face-to-face with oneself, he just has to face the truth. This happened this morning as I was shaving, for I said to myself: “Get over it.” God did not reveal to me what I specifically needed to get over, but He knows what is in my heart, mind and soul. This put me in a theologically-philosophical frame of mind (That’s deep. lol), and I felt a blog coming on. Whatever, or whoever, it is that is stuck in our sub-conscious, or conscious minds, we need to get over it. That is basically what Jesus was telling Peter in Matthew 18:22. Peter thought that forgiving seven times was a gracious plenty, but Jesus told him differently. (Don’t start doing multiplication here, for what Jesus meant was that we are to just keep on forgiving – period.) Why do we need to “get over it”? First, if something is eating away at us, it is not hurting the person who caused the “eating,” it is hurting us. We need to get the grudge out of our systems. Years ago, I read about a fish that is called the “hog fish” – at least I think that is what it was called. (It might have been "hag fish," but I digress.) This fish attaches itself to a larger fish and begins to eat the fish from the inside. That is sort of like what happens when we fail to forgive and move on with our lives. We will not move on, or grow in Christ, until we just get over whatever it was that has eaten at us. We will just be eaten away a bit at a time. Second, we need to think about the times when we have hurt other people. I don’t think that it ever occurs to us that we might be the cause of someone’s grudge. There are people out there who need to forgive us for the wrong that we did them. When we look at it this way, it should make it easier for us to forgive those who have hurt us. Perhaps we need to forgive ourselves for wrongs that we have done others. Third, we need to forgive others because we have been forgiven by Jesus. Ephesians 3:31-32 gives us this advice: “Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And be kind to one another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another, even as God for Christ’s sake has forgiven you.” The fact that we have been forgiven so much by Jesus should be an incentive for us to forgive others. Fourth, we need to forgive others because God expects it of us. In the Lord’s Prayer (Matthew 6:12), Jesus said that we should pray to be forgiven our “debts, even as we forgive our debtors.” In verses 14-15 Jesus went on to say: “For if you forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you. But if you forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses.” Now this should really give us even greater incentive to forgive others. This doesn’t mean that you will be eternally lost, but it does mean that your Christian growth will be at a standstill until you find it in your heart to forgive others. Let me put it this way: God is serious about this matter of forgiveness. We seem to think that our failure to forgive is not very important, but according to Jesus it is very important. No one knows better than you what you need to “get over.” Today would be a good day to settle that matter. Jesus is waiting, ready and able to forgive you. Bro. Joe “Likewise, you younger submit yourselves unto the elder. Yea all of you be subject one to another, and be clothed with humility: for God resists the proud, and gives grace to the humble. 6. Humble yourselves, therefore, under the mighty hand of God, that He may exalt you in due time.”
“Likewise” refers back to Peter’s admonition to the elders of the church to not consider themselves as “lords over God’s heritage.” They had authority, but they were to apply it humbly. The younger men were told to submit themselves to the elder. Peter followed that up with “all of you be subject to one another.” In Christ’s church all people are to act humbly toward all others and recognize the necessity of some to have authority as leaders. The important concept that is stressed in these two verses is the importance of humility in the church. Verse 6 gives us the essence of that importance. Peter admonished them: “humble yourselves…” Humility is not just an important Christian concept, it is an important part of the Christian’s lifestyle. Proverbs 16:18-19 reminds of this: “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall. 19. Better it is to be of a humble spirit with the lowly than to divide the spoil with the proud.” The Lord Jesus Christ lived the spirit of Proverbs 16:19 as revealed in Philippians 2:5-7: “Let this mind be in you which was also in Christ Jesus: 6. Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: 7. But made Himself of no reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of men.” In Mark 10:44-45 Jesus told His disciples, “And whosoever of you will be chiefest. Shall be servant of all. 45. For even the Son of man came not to be ministered unto, but to minister and to give His life as a ransom for many.” There are many other references to humility in the Bible. Moses was referred to in the Bible as being humble. We are in “high cotton” when seek to live humbly, for we place ourselves in the tradition of Jesus. If we want to be humble, we just need to look to Jesus and He will show us what humility is. It is important that we humble ourselves. As we read on, however, we see that we are not to just humble ourselves, but to humble ourselves under the “mighty hand of God.” Peter wrote, “Therefore, humble yourselves under the mighty hand of God.” “Therefore” is important here. What it means is that if we are to live humbly we will have to submit ourselves to the “mighty hand of God” – to His power. We are not called upon to live the humble life on our own. We turn ourselves over to our powerful God and He helps us live humbly. If we would be under anybody’s “hand,” it is important that it be under “the mighty hand of God.” We can live humbly under God’s mighty hand because our security is in Him and not in the world. Christian humility is not the result of an inferiority complex. To the contrary, it is the result of putting our faith in the Lord Jesus and letting Him be number one in our lives. If our security in ourselves is involved with our security with Jesus, we can live humbly and not be worried about bruised egos. The humble life is not the life of a doormat, but it is the life of a person of faith. The next point in this text is what makes it all-important: “….that He might exalt you in due time.” The question is, do we want to be exalted by the world or by the Lord? There is nothing wrong with reaping rewards in this life, if we remember that those rewards are not our greatest rewards. Here is what Jesus said about the matter in Matthew 23:11-12, “But he that is greatest among you shall be your servant, 12. And whosever shall exalt himself shall be abased (humbled); and he that shall humble himself shall be exalted.” That brings us back to what Peter wrote in 5:6, “….and He shall exalt you in due time.” Notice that Peter wrote that God will exalt us “in due time.” We are not to live humbly in order to just be exalted, but that we will be exalted in God’s time. We are reminded here to live humbly and be patient, because in due time, which I interpret to mean God’s time, we will be exalted. The bottom line is that the humble life is a God-pleasing life, and the prideful life is not God’s will and does not please Him. Let’s strive to live humbly before God and man, not as doormats, but as servants of God. Bro. Joe “But seek first the kingdom of God….”
The great nineteenth century evangelist, Dwight L. Moody, said something like, “the person that I have the greatest trouble with is Moody.” Moody is one the premier Christians in evangelical history. If he could confess that his biggest problem was with himself, I can certainly confess the same, and so can you. Perhaps one of the biggest fights that we have in life is dealing with ourselves. The call to Christians is to be selfless, but we human beings have a tendency to be selfish. Our innate humanity can cause a wrestling match between what we know we should be and what we are. If we aren’t careful we will put ourselves ahead of God. This is where the title, “M-E does not Spell G-O-D” comes from. I will begin with my own confession: I sometimes catch myself thinking too much about me. I want to be careful that I do not render a service in Jesus’ name because of what I might get out of it. I try not to manipulate situations in order for them to come out like I wish. This does not mean that it is always wrong for what I do to benefit me, but I pray for the wisdom to know the times that what I do should benefit me and the times when what I do should be solely for the benefit of God and others. Perhaps this would be a good time for you to make a confession of your own. One thing that can pull us away from thinking only of self is to pray that what we do is the will of God. James dealt with this in James 4:13-17: “Now listen, you who say, ‘Today or tomorrow we will go to this or that city, spend a year there, carry on business and make money.’ 14. Why, you do not even know what will happen tomorrow. What is your life? You are a mist that appears for a little while and then vanishes. 15. Instead, you ought to say, ‘If it is the Lord’s will, we will live and do this or that.’ 16. As it is, you boast and brag. All such boasting is evil. 17. Anyone, then, who knows the good he ought to do and doesn’t do it, sins.” We are not in this world just for ourselves. God has things that He wants us to do, and we need to find out what they are and do them. Jesus was not kidding when He said, “Seek ye first the kingdom of God, and His righteousness and all of these things shall be added unto you.” “These things” were the things that we worry and fret about because we are not seeking the kingdom of God first. The Lord should have first place in our lives and our motives should be concerned with His will. We should also consider other people. I do not mean that we should worry about what other people think, because some people will not think well of us just because we are Christians. I think the “Golden Rule” will be a good measure here of how we should think of other people: “Therefore all things whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets.” Simply stated, this means that you should treat others as you want to be treated. Do you want people to be nice to you? Then you should be nice to them. Do you want other people to respect you? Then show respect for them. There is a simple rule in life that we get back what we put out. Proverbs 18:24 states it succinctly: “A man that has friends must show himself friendly…” My purpose here is not to tell you that you should not have a healthy sense of self. On the contrary, I am telling you that if one has a healthy sense of self, he or she, has a healthy view of God and of people. People with a real healthy view of self feel secure in themselves whether they come out on top or not. Faith in Jesus can give us this security, and can help us have good relationships with God and people. Bro. Joe |
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