Please Be Kind to Yourself, and Others

 Happy Friday, Friends!

I hope and trust this post finds you all having a great day as this glorious new day begins to dawn in my Sweet Home Alabama!

On Tuesday I was listening to Focus on the Family while working out. The title of the talk was Saying the Right Thing When Your Child Misbehaves (Part 2 of 2) and the guests were Amber Lia and Wendy Speake. They are the authors of Parenting Scripts: When What You’re Saying Isn’t Working, Say Something New. You can find part 1 and part 2 of their talk here https://www.focusonthefamily.com/shows/broadcast/.

During the talk, Ms. Speake said something that, just the way she said it, struck me as profound. She said:

“…it dawned on me one day, you cannot have salvation without sin. You cannot have the gospel of Christ at work in our lives without sin. So, if you go through those verses that all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God and the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life and that we need to confess our sins. And He will be faithful and just forgive us. I mean, this is the gospel. We want salvation for our children, we just don’t want them to do anything that requires them being saved.”

Wow, right?! And she is right; if there was no sin, there would be no need for salvation. Go ahead, think about that one for a minute…

And then, after the announcer’s response was something like mine, she continued in part:

“You know? We don’t want them to mess up. We want them to avoid the pain of it, the embarrassment of it. We want them not to sin. And yet it’s only through sin that we receive forgiveness.”

Now I want to take a hard right turn….hold on!!! 😊

This was about parents and children and everything she said is right. I however want to tell you someone else this is right about as well…YOU…and me! No, we don’t want to mess up. Yes, we want to avoid the pain of it! And yes, we want to avoid the embarrassment of it! However, we can’t because, well, we are human.

Despite all of our efforts to be perfect, we aren’t. We all stumble and sometimes fall. Yes, we try like crazy to avoid it, hide it, and explain it away. But the reality is, we all fail. So, then what? Instead of making excuses or pointing at others, I want to encourage us to take a different path.

Lamentations 3:22 – 23 tells us:

“The steadfast love of the Lord never ceases; his mercies never come to an end; they are new every morning; great is your faithfulness.”

I am not going to make this a theological study but rather simply say this; this is a new day and God’s mercies are new every morning. Acknowledge your sin, ask for God’s forgiveness, and then live the glorious new day that is before you. If you have repented, stop living the sin, fault, or failure of yesterday and live this day fully! If you have asked for forgiveness, it has been given and the Bible tells us that our sins have been removed from us “as far as the east is from the west.” Please, Sweet Friend, stop carrying a burden that God sent Jesus to die for so you wouldn’t have to carry it!

I want to close with two exhortations for all of us:

1. We are all flawed, broken, and make mistakes. Let’s be radically different and take a different road – the road of mercy, grace, and compassion. Instead of looking for, and pointing out, where others have stumbled or fallen, let’s be the uplifters and encouragers. Let’s look for the greatness and goodness in others and call them up to all they are capable of becoming. And when they fall, as we all do? Let’s lift them up, offer forgiveness, and encourage them on their journey. Let’s be what we want/wish others would be for us.
2. Regardless of what yesterday brought, live this day fully! It is a blank canvas – neither good nor bad, just blank. We each get to choose the attitude and effort that we will bring to this day. Let us accept the mercy that God intended for us, let’s seek Him, and then let’s empty ourselves pursuing all we were created to become and use all of who we are – our time, talent, and resources – to love, care for, and serve others.

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 can reach me at kevin@whatwillyourinfluencebe.com.

Have a great day, a wonderful weekend, please cherish your precious families, and please stay well!

Kev