In this post i would like to talk to you about one of the most important people you will find anywhere. That person is you. God wants you to feel good about yourself. He expects you and I to have a reverence for him while at the same time to have respect for others.
Paul expressed this thought in two(2) passages that i want to share. In 2nd Cor, chapter 6 verse 11, "We have spoken freely to you Corinthians and opened wide our hearts to you." Then in chapter 7 verse 4 he states "I have great confidence in you, i take great pride in you, I am greatly encouraged and in all our troubles my joy knows no bounds.
In these verses Paul lays bare his heart, his feelings for the Corinthians was deep and his love was evident. Any restraint felt by the Corinthians would be because of their feelings, not his.
Paul loved these people despite the fact of their previous actions. So we ought to love each other. Be able to reach out to others, we must feel good about ourselves. Just stop and think about all the people you know. How do you feel about them? I must state that I myself have some feelings that are not what Christ would be pleased with.
If we have a warm and genuine feeling for others, then we are being the type people God wants us to be.
In todays society we hear a lot about disrespect. Just stop and think about all the types of respect that is prevelent in our society. Disrespect of children to parents, disrespect for authority and the list could go on and on. I believe respect must be earned. We must respect each other because you and I do make a difference in the lives of other people. If we really believe this, we won't try to be intresting, we will be intrested. We won't expect to be pleased, we will be pleasing. We won't wait to be enertained, we will be entertaining. We won't wait to be loved, we will be lovable. We won't ask to be helped, we will be helpful. These will make a difference.
Someone has said, "If you expect to get anywhere in this world, you have to know someone important." I believe this to be true. You do have to know someone important, you have to know yourself.
Just imagine a world filled with people who know that what they do will make a difference. That world is reality and within our grasp.
All this may seem elementary but it is excerpts from one of my chapel talks at Central Arkansas Christian School several years ago made to high school students.
( theres a mistake in the text above where respect was used and should have been disrespect)