Jesus said to him, ‘You shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.’ This is the first and great commandment. And the second is like it: ‘You shall love your neighbor as yourself.’ ~ Matthew 22:37–39
A loving parent disciplines their child. Not in a manner that is done out of anger and hatred for their child, but in a manner of love and wanting to see them grow closer to Christ and to kill the flesh. I’ve come to realize that the bad parent doesn’t want to discipline because it’s easier. It’s “easier” to ignore a problem. But then they become raging little monsters as they get older. Just like a sword, every parent wants them to be sharp. But if the only time you work on the sword is when you are angry and slam the rock against the sword you will just do damage, rather than create a sharp edge.
If you want to find out who someone truly is you have to spend lots of time, in many different situations. The problem is that if you’re always around someone when you’re having a good time, you know how they act when they are having a good time. How about when they’re stressed? When they have to work hard? When people say things they vehemently disagree with? How about on the internet? Do they feel pressured to act like a goody two-shoes around you? Or are they just being who they really are?
I think we can be surprised by how different people can become after first impressions. Just because we never really knew them in the first place.
Everybody is different. You can try to find their good side or their bad side. What are you looking for though? Much of the time just the pure aspect of trying to find the good qualities of a person versus looking for their bad qualities will create a much more peaceful friendship. Now seeking to help them overcome their bad qualities is always good, but the question is more, what do you focus on?
It would be as if I had half of my face burned in a fire, would you be always turned off by the ugly half burnt face? Or could you try to overlook it and look at the half that wasn’t burned, and looked pretty good. Lol. <_<
What do you want to look back on as your accomplishments in 50 years? Or 20 years? Do you want to be married? Own a mega-million dollar corporation? Have a million friends? Have children? What do you want to have accomplished? I think you can tell a lot about a person by the fruit that they have at the end of those times. I’ve had debates with a couple of people lately on some forums and by the end, no one had been convinced against their will, and I just had to say, why don’t we get back together in 30 years and see the kind of fruit that yours/my worldview creates. Anyone can talk a good talk, but what are the actual results going to look like? A good question to ask yourself as you move forward in life.
As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving. ~ Colossians 2:6-7
One thing I’ve noticed is that people like to debate and win. But why? Is your life going to be hurt by it? Is the other person going to go to hell if they’re wrong? What makes it so important to you that it’s a life or death issue? Debating because we like to debate isn’t necessarily maturity. We need to have some sort of godly purpose behind our debates. This means we can practice debating, so that we can address issues and talk to others in a skilled manner. But ultimately is it about your flesh and pride or the upholding and growth of God’s kingdom?
You need to wake up every morning and decide to be loving. You have to decide not to be grumpy. And then do it. ^_^
In today’s culture you seem to see two types of men. You either get the macho man or the effeminate man. Where are the godly ones?