These are some daily devotionals. I would encourage you to clip this article — or print it — and place it somewhere you can readily see it. Then read one each day, allowing God to speak to your heart.
●"When we continue to hate, we continue to lose. When we amplify mutual respect and love, we have a lot to gain. Quite simply, there is more for us to gain through love than hate." — Suzy Kassem
The old saying is, "You catch more flies with honey than vinegar." If you wish to make friends, if you wish to make a difference in someone's life, if you wish to receive respect as a person, learn to love others as children of God.
Loving others can open your heart in ways you never expected — and open avenues to new ways of life that will fill you with delight.
●"I could encourage you with my mouth, and the solace of my lips would assuage your pain." — Job 16:5
●"The purpose of human life is to serve, and to show compassion and the will to help others." — Albert Schweitzer
How often is the focus of your attention completely on yourself? Does that attention bring you happiness, or does it cause you to focus on what you don't have? A happier attitude toward life comes when you focus on others’ needs. Their joy will bring you joy.
●"I have seen their ways, but I will heal them; I will lead them and repay them with comfort, creating for their mourners the fruit of the lips. Peace, peace, to the far and the near, says the LORD; and I will heal them." — Isaiah 57:18
●"Remember the banana — when it left the bunch, it got skinned."
●"And let us not neglect our meeting together, as some people do, but encourage and warn each other, especially now that the day of his coming back again is drawing near." — Hebrews 10:25
Being part of a church family is important. It helps keep you in touch with others who wrestle with some of the same issues. And, in so doing, they help you keep in touch with God.
It is when people stop participating in the life of the church that they start to give in to temptations, and thus wind up farther away from God.
People often long for a care-free and pain-free life. They long for the "good things," whatever those may be. But hear these words of Billy Graham. They speak volumes.
"Comfort and prosperity have never enriched the world as adversity has done. Out of pain and problems have come the sweetest songs, the most poignant poems, the most gripping stories. Out of suffering and tears have come the greatest spirits and the most blessed lives."
How true!
When things are going well in life, people tend to turn away from God. When there is struggle, they turn to God and gain valuable lessons and insights which can be shared with others who suffer.
Which lessons are you learning?
The Rev. Mark Broadhead is pastor at Laurel Hill Presbyterian Church and First Presbyterian Church of Crestview.
This article originally appeared on Crestview News Bulletin: BROADHEAD: Why being part of a church family is important