Intro
Hi this is Dorette Schaal with an Encouraging Word for your day. In the coming weeks we’re going to be exploring how we can love more like Jesus. When Jesus invited us to love like Him, He not only told us how to love, but He demonstrated it by how he lived. During this journey we will be discovering how we can connect more deeply with Jesus, and be transformed into His image. This week will be an introduction to this “School of the Soul” and will begin to answer the common question we so often ask ourselves which is, “can I ever change?”The answer is YES!!! We can be love drenched, others focused and courage filled. Here is your encouraging word for today.
Monday
Where is your focus? We hear about focus a lot in our world. What we are focused on is what we will move toward. In the center of every Christian’s visions should be the image of Jesus. Our whole world should revolve around Him. He is the object of our affection and the lover of our soul. Because of His love, He desires for us to love like He does, as His character is formed in us. I think it is easy to become casual about serving God, or lackadaisical, and even sloppy when it comes to how we live. Jesus lived a better way, and He set the example for us to do better. He doesn’t expect perfection or for us to live perfect lives, but lives of excellence as we CONNECT with Him, demonstrating who He is the world around us. When we do the connecting He does the perfecting! So as a launching point for this whole series, we will be asking you to take some time each day to ponder, how Christ-like as I? Is my life love drenched, others focused and courage filled? If we want true transformation into the image of Christ, our lives will be! The transformation process will take us from the place of asking what would Jesus do, to how would Jesus do it? And how Jesus did it, is how we do it in our world. Are you ready to be transformed? I sure want to be and I hope you do too. Let’s love like Jesus.
Tuesday
One of the things we want to do during study is to comprehensively look at being transformed into the image of God. There are a couple of ways to do this. The best way to become like someone is to spend time with them. Another way is to read what others have said about them, and still another way is to read what they have written to you. What is so wonderful about that for Christians is that it is as easy as opening up the Bible and beginning to devour God’s Word to you. Jesus is the Word made flesh, and the Bible is all about Him, and His Words to us. So to get to know Jesus better we can do those three things….spend time with Him, read about His character, and actually study His words. If we do that on a human level, we would know someone pretty well. Today let’s talk about spending time with Jesus. This happens several ways. It can be personal, on your own, or corporately with others. To have the daily spiritual discipline of communicating with Jesus during your personal time of devotions and spending time with Him can be one of the most renewing and energizing things you can do. Making the choice to align your day by taking time to give God first place shows that we love Him. We spell love T I M E, and when we give our time to someone, we show them that we value them. In His presence we get “our cup” filled up. Taking time to worship and adore Him on a personal level is a great way to break into freedom. When we do all of these things with others, we get the benefit of the corporate anointing. Just as one can chase a thousand, and two can chase ten thousand, the power isn’t just added, it is multiplied. There is great joy in hearing others around you worship God. In fact, one of the most wonderful times of worship I’ve ever experienced is when I was at a Women’s Conference and all you could hear was thousands of women’s voices. I encourage you to daily practice being in God presence, and then worship God with others regularly in a church setting.
Wednesday
Another good way to be transformed in the image of Jesus is to read what others say about Him. The most reliable book source about who Jesus is, is the Word of God. A great place to start is in the New Testament with Matthew, Mark, Luke and John. The gospels actually are 4 different accounts of Jesus’ life on the earth. It is good to know His character, and see how He interacts with people from four different perspectives. It is good to notice what kinds of questions He asks, and how He responds to questions that are asked of Him. You can find all of that in the four gospels. One of the most obvious things we see is that He showed compassion to the ones we might walk right by. He was more concerned about others than He was Himself. And most definitely He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil. If we want to have the same kind of attitude that Jesus had we can learn about it as we read about Him. Perhaps you’ve heard this that the Old Testament is the Word concealed, and the New Testament is the Word revealed. We can see shadows and types of Jesus in so much of the Old Testament. When Jesus walked on the earth, His motives and character were revealed for us to imitate. But the good thing is, we don’t just have to try to act like Him, He actually put His spirit in us, shed His love around in our heart, and gives us the power to be a new creation, as it says in the New Testament. This might sound odd, but we don’t have to “act” like Him, He is within us and we get to demonstrate “God in us” to the world. We are filled with the fullness of God when we know the love of God.
Thursday
I remember so well the time when my husband and I were engaged, and we lived a 13 hour drive apart from each other. As busy as his schedule was, going to school and working, and serving in a ministry, he took time every day to write me a letter, and I did the same. This was before email and cell phones, when we actually used pen, paper and stamps!!! Needless to say, I looked forward to getting the mail every day. And the very first thing I would do when I got home from college or work was read the letter from my beloved. Do you realize that the words God had written by men inspired by the Holy Spirit in the Bible were designed as a love letter to you? When it comes to being transformed into the image of the One we love, we should take time to read what He has written. When you know and love someone, you value their words. You can’t wait to read what they have written, or listen to them when they speak. You’ve probably heard it said that couples who have been married a long time often look like each other. They begin to finish each other’s sentences, and often don’t even have to ask their mate’s opinion because they already know what it is. As our connection and love grows with Jesus, what is so cool is that can happen with us. We start to look like him. His words are so familiar to us, that they naturally roll off of our lips. We don’t have to ask what His will is, because we already know it. That sounds like transformation to me!
Friday
As we develop spiritual disciplines, they are meant to lead us into a deeper relationship with God and at the same time into joy and goodness. They help us to show more mercy towards ourselves and others. It isn’t a way to earn God’s favor, because we already have it. Disciplines are a way to develop habits that connect us to Jesus and His transforming power. The disciplines we will talk about are not just for elite Christians. Anyone can do them. They are not necessarily hard either. They can fit into the fabric of our lives and can be practiced daily. And maybe the most important part of practicing spiritual disciplines is doing them with the right motivation. We don’t do them to impress others, or to look like we are super spiritual. The whole goal is to connect with God. As we connect with God and spend time in His presence, read His words, and live for Him, we will be transformed. The word transformation relates to the word metamorphosis. Whenever I hear that word, I think of a caterpillar becoming a butterfly. It is a total transformation, from ugly to lovely! If you can relate to the psalm that says that God rescued us from the pit, or the miry clay, you can see how transformed we become when we wear the radiant robes of righteousness that we receive at salvation. We are changed from the inside out. We are transformed into the image of God, never to be the same again. After salvation, as we practice spiritual disciplines and connect more deeply with God, the transformation continues and more and more we demonstrate the love of God to our world.
Saturday
We are going to be talking about how to love like Jesus loves today. When we realize that God’s love is on the inside of us once we ask Jesus into our heart, we can not only love ourselves, but we can love others around us. We can be transformed from being concerned mostly about ourselves, and really be concerned about others. That takes transformation. The Bible says that we are transformed by renewing our mind to the Word, which really means changing the way we think. We can do that with every breath we take. In each moment as we breathe in, we can take our thoughts and exchange them for thoughts that line up with what God’s Word has to say. When we do that, it will be like breathing out the tender love, mercy, and grace of God to those around us. We can do that when we wake up, when we eat, when we go to school, when we are with friends, when we are doing homework, when we watch tv, when we do chores, when we read, and when we go to sleep. As we continue to think about Jesus in everything you do, and our friendship with Him, we start to become like Him. Our own desires will be much less important than pleasing and obeying God. As we experience the love of God on the inside of us, and we will begin to do everything we do in the same way that Jesus would. So we can know what Jesus would do, know how he would do it, and then do it ourselves. That’s real transformation.
Sunday
Have you ever felt like you were getting squeezed by the circumstances in your life? I know we all have. It can be intense when we feel pressure from every side. There is good news associated with pressure. It’s probably time to get prepared for a promotion! If you go to a higher altitude in an airplane, or a lower altitude in a submarine, both places require a change in cabin pressure. So if we want to go deeper in God, or fly higher – with our strength renewed like an eagle, don’t be overly concerned when the pressure comes. On the other side of pressure is likely a promotion, higher or deeper ----if you pass the test…. If you don’t pass, get prepared to do it over again.
Moses and the children of Israel took 40 years to make an 11 day trip with lots of pressure. They kept circling, because they didn’t pass the test.
Abram passed the test after flunking first. He caved to the pressure to make the will of God come to pass on his own. He had his own plan, and because of Ismael, we now have upheaval in half of the world. Then he passed….Isaac was born. Then another test. Will he give Him back to God? Another passed test. God had a ram in the thicket to take Isaac’s place on the altar.
David passed the test with Saul
Are you going to pass? Or are you circling in the desert for a while? Use the pressures of life to your benefit! Know God more deeply, and use His strength on the inside of you to go to a higher place in Him.
Saturday, September 25, 2010
Wednesday, September 15, 2010
Intro
Our church family is participating in a Bible Study to learn together how to show love better to the community around us and to each other. This study is a key way for us to connect meaningfully with people around us, and make a lifelong impact in our community! Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with an encouraging word for your day. As we continue this journey, we invite you to join us. Together we can Love Like Jesus, and positively change our world. Here is your encouraging word for today.
Monday
Kindness is the first characteristic of a loving life that we are studying this week. Kindness really is a great way to show God’s love to our world. It has great potential to change us from the inside as we begin to think about other’s care and comfort more than we do our own. Sometimes the biggest change we see is a change of attitude, and that is a great place to start. During this love project, we are hoping to make it more obvious to the world around us that we are believers. Believer’s should be known specifically for one thing, and that is love. So as we talk about kindness this week, I see it as beginning to put love in action. We are not hearers only, we are doers of the Word! Love is an action, and definitely when we show kindness we are acting in a loving way. We live in a world with lots of injustice. We get to be the ones who start to turn the tide. Let’s not be the one who walks past an opportunity to show kindness. Begin right where you are, and start being observant to the world around you. Open up your eyes, and in the normal processes of life, you can begin demonstrating kindness by the little kind things you do, all the time. Your life will have a whole different feel when you begin to notice or recognize someone else’s needs. We will learn that kindness isn’t only a response to others being kind to us, but us proactively being kind to others. In fact, a great definition of kindness from Gary Chapman’s book Love as a way of life is this: kindness is discovering the joy of helping others and the joy of meeting someone else’s need before your own, simply for the sake of relationship. Will kindness have an impact on your relationship? You bet. Why not start showing kindness today?
Tuesday
When we look at all the characteristics of love, kindness rates high on the list. One great way to show kindness is through words. We can speak hope filled, positive, truthful and affirming words to love through kindness. Encouraging Words are my passion! How can your words bring hope? Sometimes just the simple words, it will all be ok, can bring a great measure of hope to someone who is in desperate circumstances. Kind words should be positive and uplifting. We know God turns negative situations around all the time. Our words can begin that process in someone’s life. Kind words are truthful. We are told in the Bible to speak the truth in love. It can be challenging, but we can speak truth in love. Kind words are affirming. I’m always encouraged and affirmed by words that uplift. We do need to put a guard on our mouth, we do need to listen to what we say and how we say it, and we do need to replace negative words with positive words. Being kind is all about seeing value and worth in each person. Kindness can be developed! You can break negative patterns and make changes just by being observant and taking time to think about what we say before it is said. So remember to speak those hope filled, positive, truthful and affirming words of kindness!
Wednesday
Here is a good question to consider. How different would your relationships be if kindness was a quality of love that was practiced daily? I bet they would all improve!
Bad Habits are the competitor to kindness. Bad habits can be things that we don’t do, like: leaving things out and not putting things away. What we say when we don’t take care of our own things is that we don’t care if we make more work for others. Often it is just laziness, and sometimes haste that keep us from being more thorough, but it makes things harder for someone else. Just consider the amount of work it takes someone at a restaurant to pick up what you may have dropped on the floor, to scoot your chair in, to clean the table up. We think that since that is what they do for a job, we can leave a mess for them. That isn’t the kindest thing to do. We do need to consider kindness! Think about that at home too. When it comes to the simple things, show kindness by having good habits! Make it a good habit to take care of your own things. Do a little extra. Offer to help out. Good things happen when you show kindness….you usually get kindness in return.
Thursday
Pay it forward was a popular movie several years back that had a great message. When you receive a kindness from someone, pass it on to someone else. Instead of paying you back, you’re paying it forward. Kindness generates kindness. Have you noticed how true that it? When you make a choice to show kindness, even if it is not reciprocated, it make some sort of impact. Sometimes it is as dramatic as shock and disbelief, but often it is just thankfulness. People are genuinely thankful when a kindness is shown to them. If you look back in your own life, I wouldn’t be surprised if somewhere in your past you have a vivid memory of someone being kind to you. My dad received a Steinway Grand Piano in an inheritance of someone he had been kind to. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for my dad, in fact, he was one of the kindest men I’ve ever known. He was always thinking about the underdog, and he was an encourager by nature. The awesome inheritance came to my dad because he would take time to show kindness to a mentally disabled young man, and his mom was so grateful. She paid it forward. Is there some way you can do the same this week? Has someone helped you, or given you something, or made an impact on your life through kindness? Find a way to pay it forward!
Friday
Kindness is the first characteristic of a loving life that we are studying this week. I hope you are beginning to think proactively about being kind all the time. To make it really practical, here are some simple ideas, or ways for you to start showing kindness to those around you!
Take every opportunity to make smile at people
Remember the elderly, the mentally or physically challenged have additional
hurdles in life….try to help make life easier for them through kindness
Let others in line ahead of you
Be kind in traffic!
Give compliments!
Hold the door for others
Pay for someone’s meal or drink in the coffee line or fast food restaurant
Tip well
Call, text or email people in your world who might need encouragement
Never underestimate how much impact kind words can have on someone’s life.
Always be looking for ways to affirm and value those around you. It is all too easy to do the opposite. We look for things that are negative naturally. We have to train ourselves to look for the positive and to use our words to say the kind thing instead of what might have come to mind initially. There is the power of life and death in what we speak, and kind words in any situation, have the power to change situations for the better.
Saturday
I’m sure you’ve seen people who act like this at school. You be nice to me, and I’ll be nice to you. We are taught in Sunday School and Children’s Church to be kind to one another. Your parents probably tell you the same thing, about your sisters and brothers. Be nice! It is easier to be nice to someone if they are being nice to you, but love tells us to be nice either way! So can you begin practicing kindness? I think you can. I know you might think that some people are just kinder than others, that they got some special kind of kindness data input that you didn’t receive, but that’s really not the case. It can be from their environment. If you are around people who think about and care about others, you will definitely have a greater tendency to be kind. But even if you are not, you can start the kindness project, as part of the love project at your house! Kindness bring a smile to your face not only when you receive it, but especially when you give it. I hope you begin looking for ways to show kindness around you. Here are some easy ideas. Give genuine compliments, smile at people, help around the house without being asked, give someone else the last cookie, make an outsider feel like an insider….the list could go on forever! So now it’s your turn. What are you gonna do to show kindness to someone today? When you show your love to others, it does come back to you. So go and sow some seeds of kindness, and see what comes back in return.
Sunday
In a world where we are taught to look out for number #1, we are living in an opposite world when we begin to think about others first. This week we will be looking at Kindness as a characteristic of a loving person. A great definition of kindness is discovering the joy of helping others and the joy of meeting someone else’s need before your own, simply for the sake of relationship. A question we want to begin with is this: Would others classify me as a kind person? Do I look for ways to show kindness each day, or am I always looking out for number 1, and letting the chips fall where they may. Sometimes that answer is not clear cut, because if you are like most people, kindness is easier when you are in a hurry, and when things in your life are good. We say that as Christians we are not moved by what we feel, but we generally are. If we didn’t sleep well, kindness is out the window. If we are in pain, or discomfort, or overstressed, kindness doesn’t come quite as easily. But kindness is a habit we can acquire, and have operate in our life whatever circumstances we are in. It comes along with being selfless. Selfishness centers everything on me. How I am feeling, how rushed I am, how others should treat me. We can be asking those same questions about someone else. How are they feeling, are they rushed, can I treat them well, and help them in their day? Kindness really does begin with thinking about others more. It can start at home with those you live with. It can be a great avenue for your home life to positively change to be a more loving environment. Amazing what a little kindness can do.
Our church family is participating in a Bible Study to learn together how to show love better to the community around us and to each other. This study is a key way for us to connect meaningfully with people around us, and make a lifelong impact in our community! Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with an encouraging word for your day. As we continue this journey, we invite you to join us. Together we can Love Like Jesus, and positively change our world. Here is your encouraging word for today.
Monday
Kindness is the first characteristic of a loving life that we are studying this week. Kindness really is a great way to show God’s love to our world. It has great potential to change us from the inside as we begin to think about other’s care and comfort more than we do our own. Sometimes the biggest change we see is a change of attitude, and that is a great place to start. During this love project, we are hoping to make it more obvious to the world around us that we are believers. Believer’s should be known specifically for one thing, and that is love. So as we talk about kindness this week, I see it as beginning to put love in action. We are not hearers only, we are doers of the Word! Love is an action, and definitely when we show kindness we are acting in a loving way. We live in a world with lots of injustice. We get to be the ones who start to turn the tide. Let’s not be the one who walks past an opportunity to show kindness. Begin right where you are, and start being observant to the world around you. Open up your eyes, and in the normal processes of life, you can begin demonstrating kindness by the little kind things you do, all the time. Your life will have a whole different feel when you begin to notice or recognize someone else’s needs. We will learn that kindness isn’t only a response to others being kind to us, but us proactively being kind to others. In fact, a great definition of kindness from Gary Chapman’s book Love as a way of life is this: kindness is discovering the joy of helping others and the joy of meeting someone else’s need before your own, simply for the sake of relationship. Will kindness have an impact on your relationship? You bet. Why not start showing kindness today?
Tuesday
When we look at all the characteristics of love, kindness rates high on the list. One great way to show kindness is through words. We can speak hope filled, positive, truthful and affirming words to love through kindness. Encouraging Words are my passion! How can your words bring hope? Sometimes just the simple words, it will all be ok, can bring a great measure of hope to someone who is in desperate circumstances. Kind words should be positive and uplifting. We know God turns negative situations around all the time. Our words can begin that process in someone’s life. Kind words are truthful. We are told in the Bible to speak the truth in love. It can be challenging, but we can speak truth in love. Kind words are affirming. I’m always encouraged and affirmed by words that uplift. We do need to put a guard on our mouth, we do need to listen to what we say and how we say it, and we do need to replace negative words with positive words. Being kind is all about seeing value and worth in each person. Kindness can be developed! You can break negative patterns and make changes just by being observant and taking time to think about what we say before it is said. So remember to speak those hope filled, positive, truthful and affirming words of kindness!
Wednesday
Here is a good question to consider. How different would your relationships be if kindness was a quality of love that was practiced daily? I bet they would all improve!
Bad Habits are the competitor to kindness. Bad habits can be things that we don’t do, like: leaving things out and not putting things away. What we say when we don’t take care of our own things is that we don’t care if we make more work for others. Often it is just laziness, and sometimes haste that keep us from being more thorough, but it makes things harder for someone else. Just consider the amount of work it takes someone at a restaurant to pick up what you may have dropped on the floor, to scoot your chair in, to clean the table up. We think that since that is what they do for a job, we can leave a mess for them. That isn’t the kindest thing to do. We do need to consider kindness! Think about that at home too. When it comes to the simple things, show kindness by having good habits! Make it a good habit to take care of your own things. Do a little extra. Offer to help out. Good things happen when you show kindness….you usually get kindness in return.
Thursday
Pay it forward was a popular movie several years back that had a great message. When you receive a kindness from someone, pass it on to someone else. Instead of paying you back, you’re paying it forward. Kindness generates kindness. Have you noticed how true that it? When you make a choice to show kindness, even if it is not reciprocated, it make some sort of impact. Sometimes it is as dramatic as shock and disbelief, but often it is just thankfulness. People are genuinely thankful when a kindness is shown to them. If you look back in your own life, I wouldn’t be surprised if somewhere in your past you have a vivid memory of someone being kind to you. My dad received a Steinway Grand Piano in an inheritance of someone he had been kind to. It wasn’t out of the ordinary for my dad, in fact, he was one of the kindest men I’ve ever known. He was always thinking about the underdog, and he was an encourager by nature. The awesome inheritance came to my dad because he would take time to show kindness to a mentally disabled young man, and his mom was so grateful. She paid it forward. Is there some way you can do the same this week? Has someone helped you, or given you something, or made an impact on your life through kindness? Find a way to pay it forward!
Friday
Kindness is the first characteristic of a loving life that we are studying this week. I hope you are beginning to think proactively about being kind all the time. To make it really practical, here are some simple ideas, or ways for you to start showing kindness to those around you!
Take every opportunity to make smile at people
Remember the elderly, the mentally or physically challenged have additional
hurdles in life….try to help make life easier for them through kindness
Let others in line ahead of you
Be kind in traffic!
Give compliments!
Hold the door for others
Pay for someone’s meal or drink in the coffee line or fast food restaurant
Tip well
Call, text or email people in your world who might need encouragement
Never underestimate how much impact kind words can have on someone’s life.
Always be looking for ways to affirm and value those around you. It is all too easy to do the opposite. We look for things that are negative naturally. We have to train ourselves to look for the positive and to use our words to say the kind thing instead of what might have come to mind initially. There is the power of life and death in what we speak, and kind words in any situation, have the power to change situations for the better.
Saturday
I’m sure you’ve seen people who act like this at school. You be nice to me, and I’ll be nice to you. We are taught in Sunday School and Children’s Church to be kind to one another. Your parents probably tell you the same thing, about your sisters and brothers. Be nice! It is easier to be nice to someone if they are being nice to you, but love tells us to be nice either way! So can you begin practicing kindness? I think you can. I know you might think that some people are just kinder than others, that they got some special kind of kindness data input that you didn’t receive, but that’s really not the case. It can be from their environment. If you are around people who think about and care about others, you will definitely have a greater tendency to be kind. But even if you are not, you can start the kindness project, as part of the love project at your house! Kindness bring a smile to your face not only when you receive it, but especially when you give it. I hope you begin looking for ways to show kindness around you. Here are some easy ideas. Give genuine compliments, smile at people, help around the house without being asked, give someone else the last cookie, make an outsider feel like an insider….the list could go on forever! So now it’s your turn. What are you gonna do to show kindness to someone today? When you show your love to others, it does come back to you. So go and sow some seeds of kindness, and see what comes back in return.
Sunday
In a world where we are taught to look out for number #1, we are living in an opposite world when we begin to think about others first. This week we will be looking at Kindness as a characteristic of a loving person. A great definition of kindness is discovering the joy of helping others and the joy of meeting someone else’s need before your own, simply for the sake of relationship. A question we want to begin with is this: Would others classify me as a kind person? Do I look for ways to show kindness each day, or am I always looking out for number 1, and letting the chips fall where they may. Sometimes that answer is not clear cut, because if you are like most people, kindness is easier when you are in a hurry, and when things in your life are good. We say that as Christians we are not moved by what we feel, but we generally are. If we didn’t sleep well, kindness is out the window. If we are in pain, or discomfort, or overstressed, kindness doesn’t come quite as easily. But kindness is a habit we can acquire, and have operate in our life whatever circumstances we are in. It comes along with being selfless. Selfishness centers everything on me. How I am feeling, how rushed I am, how others should treat me. We can be asking those same questions about someone else. How are they feeling, are they rushed, can I treat them well, and help them in their day? Kindness really does begin with thinking about others more. It can start at home with those you live with. It can be a great avenue for your home life to positively change to be a more loving environment. Amazing what a little kindness can do.
Wednesday, September 8, 2010
Intro
Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with an encouraging word for your day. Starting in 2 weeks, I will be spending several weeks on the subject of Loving Like Jesus. Last year, we did 7 weeks of concentrated study on our own” Love Project”, which encouraged us to walk in love, and exhibit the 7 main characteristics of a loving person. So as a review and follow up, we are going to spend this week being encouraged and motivated to walk in love and demonstrate love as a way of life through generosity. Be encouraged today! We can make a lifelong impact on our world by loving others through being honest.
Sunday
Live in truth! Doesn’t that sound like the best idea ever? I know in a real world where it is acceptable to distort the truth and to live in one’s own perception of reality, being a person who tells the truth and lives in truth is a rare thing. Let’s not make it a rare thing in our life. In John 8:32 it says that when we know the truth we know, the truth will set us free. The Message Bible says it this way, if we stick to what Jesus has told us, we are truly His disciples and we will experience the truth and the truth will free us. I think one of the most fabulous things about being a Christians is being able to experience freedom. When we realize that freedom in our lives is connected with truthful living, it should make us even more conscious of how we live our life. Honesty and a pure life go hand in hand. If we want to be clean before the Lord, our words, our actions and our thoughts are to be consistently loving. One thing I have discovered in my own life is that we never outgrow the desire to be told the truth. As children, we wanted to know the truth, will it hurt, will it be hard, will you keep your promise, are as adults we still want the truth. Will the product really do what you say it will, are there any hidden charges, will I have to receive emails from thousands of other companies because I purchased something from yours? Maybe you haven’t had that scenario happen to you, but some of us have. We believe the ad, and either we don’t get what we paid for, there are hidden charges that being showing up on your credit card statement, or you get more junk email than you ever wanted! And sometimes a virus in your computer as a bonus. Let’s not be like the world. We live a higher standard. Our standard is truth and honesty. Utter honesty is clearly refreshing in our world. Let’s be the ones that others say about us, they always are honest, if you need to know the truth, ask them, or their life is full of integrity and they are totally trustworthy. What a great reputation we can have if our words, thoughts and deeds are filled with truth and honesty.
Monday
A new definition of honesty is a loving consistency in speech, thought and action. What we say, what we think and what we do can all be constant, or be in line with the truth. Think back in your own life. You probably have a memory of a time or even many times when you weren’t told the truth, or someone wasn’t honest to you. Or perhaps you were told the truth about someone else who wasn’t being honest with you. Most often those kinds of memories are not pleasant. You feel like you were deceived. Once you have felt something like those emotions, usually you would think that because of how it made us felt, you would never want to do something like that to someone else. Sometimes that happens, and sometimes not. Whatever the case, let’s make sure that from this point on, whenever we are given the opportunity to speak truth, to do it in love. Any time you are not sure whether to say something or not, ask yourself, do my words reflect every trait of a loving person? Then think about the other attributes of love that we have talked about up to this point. Do my words demonstrate kindness, patience, forgiveness, courtesy, humility, generosity and most definitely honesty. What would your relationships look like if that was your criteria for any words that come out of your mouth? I think we would live in much happier homes, more peaceful communities, and even a better world. We hear it often, in our green world to think locally and globally. We can do that with our words too……start where you are the little ripple can begin an even bigger ripple around you. We do affect our world one life at a time. So measure your thoughts, think on things that are pure, godly and honest. Measure your words, by saying only things that are filled with truth. And then measure you actions. Does what you are about to do line up with the characteristics that show love as a way of life? They can, and they should. Let’s be the ones who do that consistently.
Tuesday
Most of us know what honesty is. It is being a person who tells and lives in truth. If we look at the opposite side, we should find out what telling the truth does not mean. We can damage the lives of those we love if we are brutally honest with our words.
According to Gary Chapman in Love as a Way of Life, telling the truth does not mean: Telling everything that we have knowledge of. We don’t want to damage a reputation by telling everything we know to everyone we know. You probably know someone like that! You have to be careful when you are around them, because you know whatever private thing you might tell them will be public knowledge.
Verbalizing all of your emotions. It can be detrimental to speak forth everything you feel, all the time. Feelings and emotions need a filter.
Making an excuse to be unloving. Allowing your emotions to control your behavior and expressing them under the guise of honesty stimulates additional negative emotions in the other person’s mind.
Telling secrets for personal gain. Don’t sacrifice truth on the altar of success or even just a feeling of being one up on another person, or having the last word.
Jeopardizing justice. Men and women of integrity will not tell everything when to do so would be detriment to the cause of justice. (An example of this would be the families who hid Jewish citizens to protect them from the Nazis.)
When we live truthfully, we are being authentic. We are being people of integrity. That is who we are called to be. When we live in truth, we are free to love others for who they really are. As we live honestly we can reveal who we really are. What a wonderful way to live. Freely loving others, and letting others know the real us.
Wednesday
“If you have nothing nice to say, saying nothing at all.” Those famous words are from the movie Bambi. A very profound thought from the mouth of a bunny named Thumper! The lesson behind it is don’t say things that aren’t nice. Untruthful words, are not nice! Sometimes truthful words said in a harsh ways are not nice as well. The lesson is to watch what we say and how we say it. Life and death are in the power of the tongue. The Bible says that exactly. We are to speak the truth in love, and if we really want to be people who demonstrate love as a way of life, not only will we think about what we say before we say it, we will watch the manner in which we say it as well. Body language and timing are very crucial in showing love through our words. When someone is hurting, is not the time to feel the need to truthfully say that you told them so……about whatever ! Being a loving person is one who uses their words to build and encourage. They ask God to give them wisdom to confront situations in a truthful way, in the right time, and the right setting. The seeds we plant with our words will eventually grow. What do we want our words to go up and become? They do produce after their own kind. And usually the seed doesn’t fall to far from the tree. Do you want your legacy to be one of encouragement, and a life lived in the truth? Or do you want your legacy to be of a deceitful life, where perception and reality were disconnected? As people who serve the Lord, who have made a decision to follow Christ, our words should be rock solid. There should be no doubt that every time we open our mouth, we speak truth. We are promise keepers, we are truth tellers, we live our lives honestly, and we will use our words to bring life, help, hope, encouragement and blessing to those around us.
Thursday
When we live truthfully, we are being authentic. We are being people of integrity. Loving with integrity means being open about our weaknesses. We may want to appear better than we are, but that is not living authentically. Loving with integrity means recognizing how important the truth really is. Christians live on a higher plane, just because others don’t tell the truth, doesn’t mean we can lower our standard. We must remember that thinking, speaking and living in the truth is what we do as Christians. It is who we are. The life of a truth teller continues to influence others even after death. Loving with integrity means being consistent in our life choices. Our body language speaks as much as our eyes or our words, and they must be consistent. They should all reflect the same truth. Loving with integrity means being a risk taker for the sake of the truth. If confrontation is hard for you, this may be a difficult point. It may not be comfortable, but it is essential. Integrity calls us to take the risk of loving others by telling them the truth when it is needed. Loving with integrity also means keeping your promises. It takes only one promise left unfulfilled for someone to question your integrity. If we really want to love with integrity, let’s do those five things….be open about our weaknesses, recognize the importance of truth, be consistent in thoughts, words and deeds, take necessary risks to live in truth, and keep our promises. When we promise something, let’s stick with our promise. Let’s do everything within our power to hold to our vows to our spouse, or our promises toildren, or our commitment to our employer/employees. If we want to live authentically, and love authentically, let’s fight for truth, let’s stand up for what is right, and let’s live life with integrity. The world is watching. Let’s show them how Christ would do it, by how we live! Make those words of Paul part of your life, follow me, like I follow Christ.
Friday
We ended yesterday with the thought, that the world is watching us as believers. Let’s live how Christ would live. Let others follow me, like I am following Christ, just like Paul said. Obviously we are not perfect like Jesus, but we have been given power to live life boldly, authentically, and in truth. The tools are ours, all we have to do is operate in them. How does that world out in the real world? It can happen in lots of ways. As we finish out this week talking about honesty as one of the foundation principles of a loving life, I think it is good to see the connection of honesty with every other trait we have talked about so far.
Think of how honesty is tied to each of these traits with an example of how to put it into action.
Kindness- A kind person will be honest- I love the kind honesty of a friend who tells me when I have lipstick on my teeth, or a thread hanging off of my jacket.
Patience – A patient person will be honest – There is a gentle way to say I wish you were on time. It could sound like this. You are important enough in my life to wait for, but when you take up my time by being late, I have to reconfigure my schedule.
Forgiveness – A forgiving person will be honest. I choose to forgive, even when I don’t feel like it, because an honest person realizes forgiveness isn’t based on feelings, it is a choice.
Courtesy – A courteous person will be honest. Excuse me, I didn’t realize that my car was in your way, or apologizing when your actions were selfish or haughty, by saying, please forgive my rude behavior, it was totally uncalled for.
Humility – Is living honestly . We know where we get our value from and we are not overinflated, or underinflated! We are a cracked pot – a jar of clay, but we hold a treasure that can’t be measured with human hands.
Generosity – A generous person will be honest. I would love to give to your cause, but I have already chosen to give to my church and the other charities that I support.
We can say things in a loving way, and still be kind, patient, forgiving, courteous, humble and generous. So this weekend, find a way to be more like Jesus. Act like He does. It is Biblical! We are told in Gal 5;1 to imitate Christ. Put the Word into practice today!
Saturday Eword for Kids
There is blackness in the little white lie. There is nothing little or white about telling things that are not true. We are talking about being honest today, as one of the ways that we can show love to those around us. Honesty really is speaking truth. It is revealing who you really are. It is being consistent in what we say, what we think and what we do. The problem with lies is that you have to keep telling more of them. You start with one, and sooner than you know it, you have to tell another one to cover the tracks of your last lie. Life gets really complicated. Not only complicated, but it can be exhausting. The one who told the lie has to remember what lie they told to what person, and then have to keep up the story. Living in truth is so much better. You probably remember the story of Chicken Little when he told everyone the sky was falling. Because it was just an acorn that fell, nobody believed him when there really was something to be concerned about. It’s a lot like the little boy who cried wolf. We need to speak the truth, so that when we really do need help, no one will question our honesty. We live in a world where everybody lies right? No! And you don’t have to. Just because everybody else does it, doesn’t make it right! If you are asked to lie for someone, just say no. We can be the ones who think the truth, say the truth and live the truth? Does that sound hard? It could be, but there are great rewards for living in the truth, so start today….be a truth teller, a promise keeper, and an honest person.
Hi, this is Dorette Schaal with an encouraging word for your day. Starting in 2 weeks, I will be spending several weeks on the subject of Loving Like Jesus. Last year, we did 7 weeks of concentrated study on our own” Love Project”, which encouraged us to walk in love, and exhibit the 7 main characteristics of a loving person. So as a review and follow up, we are going to spend this week being encouraged and motivated to walk in love and demonstrate love as a way of life through generosity. Be encouraged today! We can make a lifelong impact on our world by loving others through being honest.
Sunday
Live in truth! Doesn’t that sound like the best idea ever? I know in a real world where it is acceptable to distort the truth and to live in one’s own perception of reality, being a person who tells the truth and lives in truth is a rare thing. Let’s not make it a rare thing in our life. In John 8:32 it says that when we know the truth we know, the truth will set us free. The Message Bible says it this way, if we stick to what Jesus has told us, we are truly His disciples and we will experience the truth and the truth will free us. I think one of the most fabulous things about being a Christians is being able to experience freedom. When we realize that freedom in our lives is connected with truthful living, it should make us even more conscious of how we live our life. Honesty and a pure life go hand in hand. If we want to be clean before the Lord, our words, our actions and our thoughts are to be consistently loving. One thing I have discovered in my own life is that we never outgrow the desire to be told the truth. As children, we wanted to know the truth, will it hurt, will it be hard, will you keep your promise, are as adults we still want the truth. Will the product really do what you say it will, are there any hidden charges, will I have to receive emails from thousands of other companies because I purchased something from yours? Maybe you haven’t had that scenario happen to you, but some of us have. We believe the ad, and either we don’t get what we paid for, there are hidden charges that being showing up on your credit card statement, or you get more junk email than you ever wanted! And sometimes a virus in your computer as a bonus. Let’s not be like the world. We live a higher standard. Our standard is truth and honesty. Utter honesty is clearly refreshing in our world. Let’s be the ones that others say about us, they always are honest, if you need to know the truth, ask them, or their life is full of integrity and they are totally trustworthy. What a great reputation we can have if our words, thoughts and deeds are filled with truth and honesty.
Monday
A new definition of honesty is a loving consistency in speech, thought and action. What we say, what we think and what we do can all be constant, or be in line with the truth. Think back in your own life. You probably have a memory of a time or even many times when you weren’t told the truth, or someone wasn’t honest to you. Or perhaps you were told the truth about someone else who wasn’t being honest with you. Most often those kinds of memories are not pleasant. You feel like you were deceived. Once you have felt something like those emotions, usually you would think that because of how it made us felt, you would never want to do something like that to someone else. Sometimes that happens, and sometimes not. Whatever the case, let’s make sure that from this point on, whenever we are given the opportunity to speak truth, to do it in love. Any time you are not sure whether to say something or not, ask yourself, do my words reflect every trait of a loving person? Then think about the other attributes of love that we have talked about up to this point. Do my words demonstrate kindness, patience, forgiveness, courtesy, humility, generosity and most definitely honesty. What would your relationships look like if that was your criteria for any words that come out of your mouth? I think we would live in much happier homes, more peaceful communities, and even a better world. We hear it often, in our green world to think locally and globally. We can do that with our words too……start where you are the little ripple can begin an even bigger ripple around you. We do affect our world one life at a time. So measure your thoughts, think on things that are pure, godly and honest. Measure your words, by saying only things that are filled with truth. And then measure you actions. Does what you are about to do line up with the characteristics that show love as a way of life? They can, and they should. Let’s be the ones who do that consistently.
Tuesday
Most of us know what honesty is. It is being a person who tells and lives in truth. If we look at the opposite side, we should find out what telling the truth does not mean. We can damage the lives of those we love if we are brutally honest with our words.
According to Gary Chapman in Love as a Way of Life, telling the truth does not mean: Telling everything that we have knowledge of. We don’t want to damage a reputation by telling everything we know to everyone we know. You probably know someone like that! You have to be careful when you are around them, because you know whatever private thing you might tell them will be public knowledge.
Verbalizing all of your emotions. It can be detrimental to speak forth everything you feel, all the time. Feelings and emotions need a filter.
Making an excuse to be unloving. Allowing your emotions to control your behavior and expressing them under the guise of honesty stimulates additional negative emotions in the other person’s mind.
Telling secrets for personal gain. Don’t sacrifice truth on the altar of success or even just a feeling of being one up on another person, or having the last word.
Jeopardizing justice. Men and women of integrity will not tell everything when to do so would be detriment to the cause of justice. (An example of this would be the families who hid Jewish citizens to protect them from the Nazis.)
When we live truthfully, we are being authentic. We are being people of integrity. That is who we are called to be. When we live in truth, we are free to love others for who they really are. As we live honestly we can reveal who we really are. What a wonderful way to live. Freely loving others, and letting others know the real us.
Wednesday
“If you have nothing nice to say, saying nothing at all.” Those famous words are from the movie Bambi. A very profound thought from the mouth of a bunny named Thumper! The lesson behind it is don’t say things that aren’t nice. Untruthful words, are not nice! Sometimes truthful words said in a harsh ways are not nice as well. The lesson is to watch what we say and how we say it. Life and death are in the power of the tongue. The Bible says that exactly. We are to speak the truth in love, and if we really want to be people who demonstrate love as a way of life, not only will we think about what we say before we say it, we will watch the manner in which we say it as well. Body language and timing are very crucial in showing love through our words. When someone is hurting, is not the time to feel the need to truthfully say that you told them so……about whatever ! Being a loving person is one who uses their words to build and encourage. They ask God to give them wisdom to confront situations in a truthful way, in the right time, and the right setting. The seeds we plant with our words will eventually grow. What do we want our words to go up and become? They do produce after their own kind. And usually the seed doesn’t fall to far from the tree. Do you want your legacy to be one of encouragement, and a life lived in the truth? Or do you want your legacy to be of a deceitful life, where perception and reality were disconnected? As people who serve the Lord, who have made a decision to follow Christ, our words should be rock solid. There should be no doubt that every time we open our mouth, we speak truth. We are promise keepers, we are truth tellers, we live our lives honestly, and we will use our words to bring life, help, hope, encouragement and blessing to those around us.
Thursday
When we live truthfully, we are being authentic. We are being people of integrity. Loving with integrity means being open about our weaknesses. We may want to appear better than we are, but that is not living authentically. Loving with integrity means recognizing how important the truth really is. Christians live on a higher plane, just because others don’t tell the truth, doesn’t mean we can lower our standard. We must remember that thinking, speaking and living in the truth is what we do as Christians. It is who we are. The life of a truth teller continues to influence others even after death. Loving with integrity means being consistent in our life choices. Our body language speaks as much as our eyes or our words, and they must be consistent. They should all reflect the same truth. Loving with integrity means being a risk taker for the sake of the truth. If confrontation is hard for you, this may be a difficult point. It may not be comfortable, but it is essential. Integrity calls us to take the risk of loving others by telling them the truth when it is needed. Loving with integrity also means keeping your promises. It takes only one promise left unfulfilled for someone to question your integrity. If we really want to love with integrity, let’s do those five things….be open about our weaknesses, recognize the importance of truth, be consistent in thoughts, words and deeds, take necessary risks to live in truth, and keep our promises. When we promise something, let’s stick with our promise. Let’s do everything within our power to hold to our vows to our spouse, or our promises toildren, or our commitment to our employer/employees. If we want to live authentically, and love authentically, let’s fight for truth, let’s stand up for what is right, and let’s live life with integrity. The world is watching. Let’s show them how Christ would do it, by how we live! Make those words of Paul part of your life, follow me, like I follow Christ.
Friday
We ended yesterday with the thought, that the world is watching us as believers. Let’s live how Christ would live. Let others follow me, like I am following Christ, just like Paul said. Obviously we are not perfect like Jesus, but we have been given power to live life boldly, authentically, and in truth. The tools are ours, all we have to do is operate in them. How does that world out in the real world? It can happen in lots of ways. As we finish out this week talking about honesty as one of the foundation principles of a loving life, I think it is good to see the connection of honesty with every other trait we have talked about so far.
Think of how honesty is tied to each of these traits with an example of how to put it into action.
Kindness- A kind person will be honest- I love the kind honesty of a friend who tells me when I have lipstick on my teeth, or a thread hanging off of my jacket.
Patience – A patient person will be honest – There is a gentle way to say I wish you were on time. It could sound like this. You are important enough in my life to wait for, but when you take up my time by being late, I have to reconfigure my schedule.
Forgiveness – A forgiving person will be honest. I choose to forgive, even when I don’t feel like it, because an honest person realizes forgiveness isn’t based on feelings, it is a choice.
Courtesy – A courteous person will be honest. Excuse me, I didn’t realize that my car was in your way, or apologizing when your actions were selfish or haughty, by saying, please forgive my rude behavior, it was totally uncalled for.
Humility – Is living honestly . We know where we get our value from and we are not overinflated, or underinflated! We are a cracked pot – a jar of clay, but we hold a treasure that can’t be measured with human hands.
Generosity – A generous person will be honest. I would love to give to your cause, but I have already chosen to give to my church and the other charities that I support.
We can say things in a loving way, and still be kind, patient, forgiving, courteous, humble and generous. So this weekend, find a way to be more like Jesus. Act like He does. It is Biblical! We are told in Gal 5;1 to imitate Christ. Put the Word into practice today!
Saturday Eword for Kids
There is blackness in the little white lie. There is nothing little or white about telling things that are not true. We are talking about being honest today, as one of the ways that we can show love to those around us. Honesty really is speaking truth. It is revealing who you really are. It is being consistent in what we say, what we think and what we do. The problem with lies is that you have to keep telling more of them. You start with one, and sooner than you know it, you have to tell another one to cover the tracks of your last lie. Life gets really complicated. Not only complicated, but it can be exhausting. The one who told the lie has to remember what lie they told to what person, and then have to keep up the story. Living in truth is so much better. You probably remember the story of Chicken Little when he told everyone the sky was falling. Because it was just an acorn that fell, nobody believed him when there really was something to be concerned about. It’s a lot like the little boy who cried wolf. We need to speak the truth, so that when we really do need help, no one will question our honesty. We live in a world where everybody lies right? No! And you don’t have to. Just because everybody else does it, doesn’t make it right! If you are asked to lie for someone, just say no. We can be the ones who think the truth, say the truth and live the truth? Does that sound hard? It could be, but there are great rewards for living in the truth, so start today….be a truth teller, a promise keeper, and an honest person.
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