Happy Friday Friends!
I hope & trust this post finds you having a great day as this beautiful new opportunity, er, day, dawns!
Oh my Friends, the heart is full this morning! This morning I am going to share some thoughts with you based on listening, seeking to understand, folks from all walks of life over the past few weeks. I am not going to be referring to groups - Muslim or Christian, White or Black, Police Officer or some other professions, etc. for example - throughout this post. No, I am going to refer to people as people. I am not doing this to remove or neglect anyone's uniqueness or individuality but rather as a recognition and acknowledgement of everyone's humanity. And this is the first point I want to address...
1. We are all human. My Bible tells me that everyone - EVERYONE! - is created uniquely by God on purpose for a purpose. There is a person who is going to wake up today in some country that I have never heard of who loves his family, desperately wants to be the best he can be, who will pour himself out fully today in service to others...just like me. He may not look like me, talk like me, believe what I believe, do what I do, or care about what I care about however he is a person - to be loved, valued & cherished. He will wake up with hopes & fears, dreams & concerns, wants & needs...all, just like me.
When we dehumanize anyone we are treading on very dangerous, I offer perhaps Holy, ground. I don't know about you however I am not going to argue with God and tell him He got this one wrong as I point at another. When we fail to recognize the humanity in any person we not only argue with God we put ourselves on a path to think, say, do things and to go places that we don't want to go. We must first recognize people as people, to value & cherish them as people, to care about them as people, to treat them as people, to see them in their humanity, just like you & me.
Now, I also recognize that evil is real and some people do have evil in their hearts. You can get a group of these people together and you have a whole lot of folks together who are individually evil. This does not make any one group evil. Just as we cannot dehumanize anyone, we can't - we must not! - generalize. This is a slippery slope that we, as people, have lived on for way too long. Not only do generalizations prove ignorance, they also lead us to think, say & do horrible things. We can recognize the evil in a person, we can protect ourselves - we are wise to do both - however we must not put all people in the group that we want to generalize this person into in the same category. We can still treat the person who is evil with respect as a human being - again, safely - and perhaps most importantly, we can pray for that person. History has proven time & time again that arguing, fighting, etc. will not change the heart of an evil person...only God has the ability to do that.
2. What is the condition of your heart? By this I mean, how do you perceive others? Do you believe that every life has value, meaning & purpose? Do you believe that every person was created by God on purpose for a purpose? This is a critically important issue to resolve in our hearts...and may I remind you Friends, what you say does not demonstrate the condition of your heart, it is what you do that does. Now, this is an important issue to resolve two different ways...
First, it is going to determine how I approach others. Do I approach them from the angle of love or hate? My heart will decide that. Am I looking for the good or the bad? My heart will decide that. Is it my goal to make a friend or to fight? My heart will determine that. And many, many more issues all originating from the heart, the root if you will of the body. You see Friends, it is the true beliefs that we harbor in the deepest recesses of our hearts that will determine our thoughts, our words and our actions, the fruit.
Second, it is going to determine how I receive others. Do I seek to understand or to be understood? My heart will decide that. Am I looking to better understand another person or am I looking to assign fault/blame? My heart will decide that. Do I initially - before any words or actions - perceive a friend or foe? My heart will decide that. Let me take it another direction; who or what defines you? Yes, that is a heart issue as well and it does determine how we receive the thoughts, words & actions of other people.
Until we resolve the heart issues, we stand no chance of resolving human relations issues. Our hearts will either lead us to life & truth or to death & destruction...every individual person walking the face of this earth must make that determination for him or herself.
3. Finally, I want to again encourage each one of us to first seek to understand, then, and only if necessary, to be understood. It is an incredibly narrow window to only seek to be understood. There are a whole bunch of people, from every segmentation of life, currently seeking to be understood. Let us be different, let us seek first to understand the thoughts, worries, concerns, hurts, goals & dreams of another person. Then we are in a position to truly value them for the unique people they are and perhaps then, we will have the honor & privilege of doing life with them.
It is a very tense time in our world. Their are evil hearted people doing evil things. It can become stressful, frustrating, etc. I want to encourage you today Friends, there is hope, great hope actually. We can pray for these people and these situations. The God who created everything is quite capable of changing the hearts of men and women...in fact, He is the only thing that can. Please don't spend your precious time - the most valuable resource you have - arguing, fighting, trying to prove your point, etc. Instead, submit your concerns to the Lord and then walk out what you believe to be right & true. Not once in the Bible does God tell us to go fix everything - He tells us repeatedly to trust Him, to guard our hearts, minds and spirits and to work at everything as though we are working for Him, not people.
Please don't hesitate to contact me if there is ever anything I can do for you or your family. I will always help you any way I can. You may contact me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.
Have a great day, a wonderful weekend and please cherish your precious families.
Kev
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