How many times have you caught yourself treating someone in a
way that wasn’t quite up to Christian standards? You know what I’m talking about. You treat certain people differently, because
that’s how they treat you or how they treat others. You don’t speak to them, because they don’t
speak to you. You don’t wave at them,
because they don’t wave to you. You
treat them with disrespect, because that’s how they treated you the last time
you had a conversation with this person.
Not only are those actions extremely childish, but they’re
entirely wrong.
I’ve had this on my mind for some time now, because I catch
myself treating people exactly how they treat me or how I’ve seen them treat
others. I know it’s wrong, but I feel
like I can justify my actions by their previous actions. However, just because someone else is wrong,
doesn’t make it right for me to be just as wrong.
As I was thinking on this topic for this blog, something my
Momma always told me came to mind. She
would say, “Tim, people will always remember how you made them feel. If you treat them kindly, they’ll
remember. If you treat them with disrespect,
they’ll remember. If you treat them with
respect, they’ll remember. They’ll
always remember how you made them feel.”
Not only did the words of Momma come to mind, but that
famous Golden Rule came through as well.
Do unto others, as you would have
them do unto you.
Now I know that the scripture reads in Matthew 7:12 “Therefore
all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to
them: for this is the law and the prophets.”
Notice that both say nothing about treating people the way
they treat you, but rather to treat people the way you would want to be
treated. I think that’s part of the
problem today. We treat people the way
they treat us, NOT how we want to be treated.
A few years ago I started doing something that, to some, may
be considered a little over the top. If
I walk up to a group of people, I try to speak to each one in the group. If I walk past someone I know, I try to at
least say “hello” or some sort of greeting.
Why? Because that’s how I would
want to be treated if I was standing in a group or by myself and someone I knew
walked past or walked up.
Proverbs 18:24 tells us, “A man that hath friends must shew
himself friendly: and there is a friend that sticketh closer than a brother”.
People don’t want to be friends with folks that don’t show
themselves friendly. In order for us to
make friends, we’ve got to be friendly…to everyone.
So how do we get people to make the changes needed to be
made? How do we get folks to treat us
the way we want to be treated?
First of all, we’ve got to change ourselves and our way of
thinking. Doing the same ole thing and
acting the same ole way expecting different results isn’t going to cut it. We’ve got to change our thoughts and our
actions if we want to see serious change in others. We can’t expect others to change, if we
ourselves aren’t willing to change.
Secondly, we start treating people the way we want to be
treated. Remember, people will always
remember how you made them feel.
Thirdly, be patient.
It’s going to take time for some to catch hold of the concept of
treating people with respect and dignity, but they’ll get it…eventually. Keep showing them how it’s done and
eventually they’ll figure it out. You
can teach an old dog a new trick, it just takes time.
Lastly, don’t stop showing people how. The scripture in Luke chapter 6 verse 38
says, “Give, and it shall be given unto you…” If we continue to give,
eventually what we’ve given will be given back.
“…good measure, pressed down, and shaken together, and running over…”
Just my thoughts on a page…
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