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Divine Note #56 - God’s plan for how we should treat each other - 1 Peter 3:8-12

Divine Note #56 – Sept. 9, 2010

God’s plan for how we should treat each other - 1 Peter 3:8-12
1 Peter 3:8-12 (GOD’S WORD Translation)
Dedicate Your Lives to Jesus
8 Finally, everyone must live in harmony, be sympathetic, love each other, have compassion, and be humble. 9 Don’t pay people back with evil for the evil they do to you, or ridicule those who ridicule you. Instead, bless them, because you were called to inherit a blessing. 10 “People who want to live a full life and enjoy good days must keep their tongues from saying evil things, and their lips from speaking deceitful things.11 They must turn away from evil and do good. They must seek peace and pursue it.12 The Lord’s eyes are on those who do what he approves. His ears hear their prayer. The Lord confronts those who do evil.”

Dear Friends,
If you read my blog, you know that I’ve been writing about relationships – a topic that God has been working out in my life. This note has been in my heart for 10 days, but I wasn’t ready to write it until today. I wish I could say that I am always obedient each time the Holy Spirit inspires me to write.

How you treat others matters to God
This message is for all of us: kids to the elderly. Not one of us is exempt from thinking before we speak. Contrary to what our culture says, we are not entitled to voice our opinions about everything and to everyone we know if it is going to offend or hurt.

It is so easy to say things in anger or pride to make your point. Once words leave your mouth, you can never take them back. That is regretful. It is so easy to distort the truth to make it work for you. But God knows the truth. It is so easy to put on a cloak of self-righteousness, but who do we think we are kidding?

I am challenging myself to speak life from my tongue. I am known for being direct in my relationships. Last week, I told someone that I want to be direct (real) but in a nice way. I don’t want my words or opinions to cut. I must take my relationship with God seriously and respect that he also loves the people that I find challenging.

Stop before you speak
Are you are in the habit of not thinking about the things you say to your husband, wife, kids, parents, siblings, relatives, friends, coworkers, employees and the store clerks? I hope you will take time to consider what words of life you can speak. Do not dwell on the negative or in the past. Move forward. If someone offends you or hurts you, do you immediately think of retaliating?

I am learning how to give it to God and instead ask him to bless the person who offended me. This did not come naturally to me. But I find that as I practice seeing others through God’s eyes that I have more compassion and more love. I can love the unlovable because I also want to be loved. God has shown me how unlovable I can be, so it required me to do some soul-searching. This is God’s way of telling me that I have to change my words. I have to change the way I treat others, but first I had to have a healthy perspective in order to be able to do that. God has changed my perspective and, thus, my personality. It took the Savior of the Universe to make me stop and evaluate how I treat others.

How you treat others impacts your life
Proverbs 18:21 (The Message) Words kill, words give life; they're either poison or fruit—you choose.
If you are negative or if you always have to be right, you put the pressure on yourself to live up to a standard of perfection that you will never reach. You also lose the support and the love of those in your circle. You will be known as the person who can never be pleased. But more importantly, you have to know that God does not approve of this behavior. God’s approval is important for me. I care about what he thinks. It took God to help me see how I impact others.

I am a work in progress and I still fail, but now I am more aware of the things I say. Ask God to help you change if the tongue is a challenge for you. He has done wonders in my life and he will do the same for you.

Big God Hugs,
Blanca










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