Hey ladies! So we are done with our homeschool year! Summer vacation is here wootwoot šš The last few weeks have been pretty full. Just like my last post was about priorities and setting boundaries, that is what I did and why I went quiet. For some days now I have been relaxing and just enjoying the slower days. Our son is done with high school now. Where did the time go? So cool and yet so crazy!
I was a little stuck on what my first post back should be. This was one of the few topics I had in mind but couldnāt seem to get it started right. I had so many ideas but when I started to writeā¦ it didnāt feel right. So I chatted with one of my close friends. Sometimes that is all we need. Girl, you know who you are and I love ya š¤ thank you for challenging me and the encouragement.
I have a few close friends that I can talk about my blogging with. That is such a blessing! I love all of you dearly and appreciate you tremendously. You girls are amazing šš„°
So just look around the world. Look around and watch other believers too. It is all just in such a sad state. It seems like virtually no one cares how they are treating or talking to others. Unless they are like them. Even believers towards other believers has gotten even worse. Everyone is making excuses as to why it is ok or are right. Not all of course butā¦ just look around. I canāt even imagine how Yah feels looking down on His creation and His people treating each other so utterly rotten. We know how it feels when we watch our children and others do it. How does our Father feel? I imagine it is nothing like we can feel as humans.
*sigh*
What is one of the first things children start to get taught even before they can understand it?
Be nice. Treat others how you want to be treated.
How basic is that? It is one of the two greatest commandments. Love your neighbor as yourself.
Who does that include? EVERYONE!
Especially our families. We should be treating them well and striving to do our best. Will they always treat us well? Of course not. Will we always treat them well? Nope. Does that make us doormats? Not at all.
Is how we treat others contingent on how they are? Not supposed to be. Is it easy to always live this out. Uh uh. Still true? You betcha.
Do we find ourselves treating others better than our families, then making excuses as to why it is ok not to be so kind to them?
I think it would be safe to assume that if it were reversed we wouldnāt like that done to us. Even when we ādeserve itā.
Treat others how YOU would want to be treated.
It starts in the home.
It doesnāt end there.
We donāt get to decide who is worthy of being nice to and who isnāt.
Proverbs 31:26- kindness is the law of her tongue
Living out Matt 6:33 makes it easier. Keeping in mind how Yeshua lived can be very helpful. Not one of us can copy Him perfectly but we should still be trying. How many of us have the ābut but butsā when we have been wronged, irritated or donāt like what someone else said? How often do some of us like to argue why right and another is wrong? It seems like most of what see is not done in love. Oh is it said, howeverā¦ if take a step back and examine what we type or say, there is a good chance thatās sometimes we would get quite annoyed with it being directed at us. Because we know that it is actually not ok and we do not like that.
Donāt be so quick to say something is ok for what and how we say and do things all the timeā¦
Jeremiah 17:9
Guess who that includes? Everyone single one of us. Not just everybody else.
How we talk to others matters.
How we treat others matters.
Whether we model the golden rule to our children or not matters. How can we truly teach them love, mercy, grace, forgiveness, kindness, being a peacemaker and all the other qualities of Yah if we donāt live them?
Actions speak louder than words. People can see the hypocrisy.
Are we holding our families and others to higher standards than we hold ourselves to?
It matters.
If we donāt strive to live out the two greatest commandments will we hear āwell doneā or will we hear āI never knew youā. Remember Paulās words about if you donāt have love, everything you know does not matter and is nothing. āLOVE your neighbor as yourselfā falls under that too. Just saying have love is not enough. It is a word full of action.
Are we inadvertently turning people away from Yah and Yeshua because we are snotty, rude, brash, bossy, loud and mean to others? Yes these things matter. No they are not good qualities when others are harmed by them. Being meek and having a quiet spirit who knows when to keep silent and when to speak up and the how we do it is important. That doesnāt mean we have to sit down, shut up, have fake quiet and meekness, or not allowed to talk or have opinions. No it is not always a good thing when others get rattled by what we say. Sometimes it is because we are actually doing something that isnāt good. Sometimes we bring those issues on ourselves. Speaking truth doesnāt always mean we have to bash others over the head or be a jerk about it.
Ecclesiastes 3:1-8
*There is a time for those things and always with discretion and wisdom for every interaction*
Those are not exactly good ways to help others see things. Especially our children and husbands. Those all have opposite effects. We can be right but wrong in our delivery. Sometimes it is us who is wrong. Sometimes whatever it is actually does not matter. Sometimes it is us trying impose OUR will. These are things to consider.
We know these things are true because we do not like it when it is done to us. Yeshua did not always do those things. Only once do we know about Yeshua getting angry and flipping the money changers table and yet that often gets used as a reason why people are awful to others. His blunt comments were mostly saved for the Spiritual leaders and certain other circumstances. He did not go around being self righteous and rude.
We should keep in mind the scriptures that speak of causing others to stumble and we will be held accountable . We should be applying this to our family interactions and others. It absolutely matters. Just throwing our hands up saying and doing whatever we want is not wise. We should be very careful how we treat others.
Even when sin is involved, do people get won over when yelling and screaming at? Or do they more than likely get won over by approaching like Yeshua and done in love? That does not mean tolerating things shouldnāt and giving a pass. Nope. What did Yeshua tell the woman caught in adultery? (That is pretty serious by the way) He told her āgo and sin no moreā. He didnāt call her names, didnāt belittle or put her down. There are ways to interact with people that is completely different than what we see that can actually bear GOOD fruit.
WE DO NOT CALL PEOPLE OR CHANGE THEIR HEARTS
That is Yahs job.
So even if sharing truth or trying to get a point across to our children, husband or othersā¦
GET OUT OF YAHS WAY AND LET HIM WORK IN THEM
This world is so very deceived. We all also have our own likes, dislikes, opinions, personalities and so much more. Getting along doesnāt always just happen. But we are to try to live peaceably with all to the extent that we are able. (This includes our own households).
Think back on ourselves and the changes we have had to make. Some of them took a long time. We need to remember these and keep in mind when dealing with everyone else.
We should never forget that the standards we apply to others will be applied to us. That is a good study to do from time to time too.
When we are teaching our children or discussing things with our husbands it matter HOW we talk to them and treat them. How would we feel if when we mess up we get met with meanness, putting down and lecturing as if some sort of low life? We certainly donāt like it. Think and pray beforehand with more serious matters.
We are to take the narrow path. That isnāt entirely easy. If it were we wouldnāt have to be told to endure until the end. We arenāt reminded to love, esteem others higher than ourselves, honor, respect, others or be peace makers who are the salt of the earth and light to the world because it is easy. We are not told to be these ways and more only when it is convenient.
We donāt have to be told to love others when they are being loveable. Nope, we need those reminders when they are acting unloveable. We wouldnāt have to be told to esteem others more than ourselves if they behaved in manners that made it easy.
We all fall under these categories of needing others and especially our families to do it anyways for us.
There is nothing in His word that says you only act like Yeshua when we feel like others deserve it or we want to. If that were the case we would never receive it either.
Paul spoke about the struggle he had with still wanting to do wrong when he knew better. He was a great servant who did some pretty bad things before Yah called him out of that. We all have things we have done and been forgiven of that we get angry for others being in currently. None of us did anything to deserve the grace Yah gave us. If it werenāt for Him we would still be stuck in sin filled lives. Remember the sin we currently catch ourselves committing at times.. we are liars if we say we donāt have any.
Being the way we are called to be is not always easy. Our flesh wants to not always handle things properly. Whether it is in our own families or the world at large.
Remember where you came from. We all came out of bad mindsets, attitudes and sin. We all acted up as kids, to varying degrees. We all treat our spouse poorly at times. We all treat our kids unkindly even if it is rare.
Let us not be so quick to only apply the golden rule and loving our neighbor when we feel like it. No. All the time it applies. We will never do that every moment of every day but we should strive to.
The moments it is hardest is when it matters the most. Those times when we respond in kind or treat someone the opposite of how our flesh would want to is what makes some of the biggest impressions on our families as well as others.
The golden rule is called that for a reason. Imagine if everyone always lived it. The world would be a very different place. One day things will be better but in the meantime we can make a difference and be that light and salt!
Until next timeā¦