HOW TO LOVE DIFFICULT PEOPLE

Years ago I cam across a saying; “people don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care”. It is my belief that people are looking for understanding, acceptance and real love, not necessarily more information.

For years churches have dispensed information; information about God, theology, ethics, rules, regulations and the like. And for all of this information that has been given out from Sunday sermons, Sundays School classes, in midweek bible studies, on radio and television far too many Christians’ lives remain the same. They may have more religious information than any other time in history and yet very little if anything changes in their day to day behaviours.

Here is an incredible truth. You can know all sorts of information and never experience any transformation. We are ‘knowledge-aholics”. We crave more data, more information, more sources, more input…but we never seem to let that information affect our behaviour. We know a lot, we just don’t do much with what we know.

The Apostle John in 1st John calls it like he sees it! Simply put he says that talk is cheap! Even for Christians he says if you don’t live it, it doesn’t count. You can say you love Christ or are a follower of Jesus, but if you don’t reach out and help a brother or sister that you see in need…well to put it bluntly…he says you are a liar and there is non of Gods love in you.

The test that you are a true follower of Christ is this; you never pass up an opportunity to help when you have the God given opportunity to do so.
So here is the deal. The world we live in is so self focused that if people actually saw a group of people really helping others out…going out of their way to give practical care and assistance…they would sit up and notice. They might even wonder why in a world so “me” driven, people would sacrifice their own agendas for the benefit of others.

People do not care what religion you are or what beliefs you hold, whether you have the ‘truth” and great spiritual insight. They just want to know if you will care for them in real practical down to earth ways.

This is what Jesus ministry was all about… he hung out with the poor, he healed the sick, he taught the common people, he fed the hungry, he spent time with children, he ate dinner with prostitutes and the disenfranchised, was the life of the party, he visited the grieving, kicked the “stuffing” out of those who took financial advantage of others and had the guts to religious leaders a “brood of vipers”.

Let’s stop talking about and get done! Love can change the world but only if you live it!

WILL THE REAL YOU PLEASE STAND UP

I don’t know about you, but I see very little of God in our world today. I see greed, haltered, selfishness, cruelty, emotional pain, rejection, isolation, jealousy, lies, sensuality, careless sex, aborted babies, broken promises, shame, guilt, fear and a host of other behaviours, that if taken together reflect God, I would want no part in Him.

Maybe what really freaks me out is that I see so little of God in my own actions. When I am truly honest with myself my behaviours more often reflect my selfish needs and not the actions of a loving God. I have reached a season in my life where I do not want that to be so any longer.

The key to changing any behaviour is to change what you believe in your heart. You cannot behave any differently from what you believe. Every action is a response to what you truly believe deep down in side of you. James Allen has written, “Good thoughts and actions can never produce bad results. Bad thoughts and actions can never produce good results. Men do not attract that which they want, but that which they are”.

What would you do if you discovered that many of the things you believe about yourself are not true? They are in fact lies. And for years you have been acting/ behaving from that set of lies and not from the truth. And, (here comes the conspiracy theory) there has been a concerted effort to make sure you never find out the truth about who you were really meant to be. I call this IDENTITY THEFT.

It is so simple. God has a plan and a purpose and a personality just for you. That plan purpose and personality has been hijacked and until the hijackers are exposed you will never find the real you, the you, God intended you to be. Until you discover Gods intentions for you, you will forever be searching in the wrong place. That is why so many people work hard all their lives, get ahead, become successful and eventually come up empty. That is why so many people never learn from their mistakes and repeat the same failures over and over again. They have been deceived, lied to, and are working under false orders.

I believe with all my heart our real personality and purpose has been hijacked. In Psalm 139 David is very clear about the fact that God has a distinct purpose and personality for each of his created children. He says in verse 14 that” We are fear fully and wonderfully made”; made in the very image of God

There is good news. God has made a way for you to discover who he intends you to be. Everything hinges on what you believe and weather what you believe is the truth or a lie. We are all on a journey of self discovery. The path we take may be different. And contrary to current popular thought, all paths do not lead to the same destination.

There is a you, which God intended. You are not a random collection of neurons and microbes and synapses and electrical currents. Most of us have been living out lies, lies that we have embodied as truths. We must replace those lies with the Truth and learn to live each day out of the truth and act from a position of love in our personalities.

God has made it possible for you to behave differently. He gave us Jesus Christ as our example. Every action, every attitude of Jesus Christ was birthed from His understanding of the truth about who he was and his purpose. He behaved consistently out of his beliefs and his beliefs were grounded in love, for he himself was love in human form.

Genuine change in behavior is possible but we must start with a tested, proven reliable source for that change. I believe that reliable source is Jesus.

So here is my IDENTITY THEFT CHALLENGE, start to read about the life story of Jesus. Get an easily readable translation of the bible like The NIV, The Message, or CEV. You will find the translation short forms on the cover. Start in the New Testament section the book called John, then go back and read Matthew, Mark and Luke. One thing you will notice is the incredible consistency with which Jesus behaved. He behaved the same no matter what the circumstance. He also behaved in complete agreement with his source. (You will understand what I mean by the time you have finished the book of John). Getting grounded in understanding the personality and purpose of Jesus is the first step in discovering who you really are.

Next time we will look at the sources of what you believe about yourself. We will examine them and test them in a writing called “Why You are the Way You Are”.

WHO I AM GOING TO VOTE FOR!

Well it's time for another Canadian election. I often get asked who I am going to vote for. As a "kinda" public figure and deeply into religion I have avoided answering that question for years. Today I am coming out of the "secret voter closet." You see, the other week I read an article in the Sudbury Star that quoted the late (and might I say great) Tom Davies answer to this very same question. In essence he encouraged people to vote for the candidate in our community who will be with the party that forms the next government. Now that's different!

Imagine Sudbury with a Federal representative who is actually on the governments side. Just think of the attention( read potential dollars)that our community could receive. Look at what "Wrangling Rick" has done for sudbury since his transformation from scrapping with the government to being able to scrape together millions for this community from the government. Now imagine what we could accomplish if we had both provincial and federal representation.

In my opinion it's time for us to get selfish. That's right! No more ideological voting for me. I have given up on the notion that there is any practical difference in Liberal economics, Conservative economics or NDP economics (if there is such a thing)and may the good Lord help us, Green economics. Show me the money.

I want attention for Sudbury. I want Sudbury to finally, be on the winning side. I want no more excuses for coming in second, or maybe even third in this election. Sudbury needs a federal representative from the governing side.

So who am I going to vote for? Simply put I am going to vote for the candidate from the party most likely to win.

You may ask me, "What party do I think is most likely going to win the election?" My reply,( said kindly and gently, of course) "non of your business".