🗣️How Were You Treated🗑️

God does not change - and neither does His love. He loved you before you were born... He loves you now...and He will love you forever.   ~ Billy Graham ~

Colossians 4:1 (KJV) Masters, give unto your servants that which is just and equal; knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.

How do you want to be treated? Would we not all hold up our hand and say I would like to be treated with respect. So the question we must ask ourselves are we treating others with respect?  In Matthew 6:12 (KJV) we read this little phrase “And forgive us ” those words are in what is called the Lord’s Prayer. One day, one of Jesus' disciples asked Jesus to teach them something. They had been walking with Him and being around Him on a daily basis. As these men listened to Jesus they also noticed something else, that Jesus spent time talking to His Heavenly Father. They also wanted to learn how to pray, so they asked.

Luke 11:1 (KJV) And it came to pass, that, as he was praying in a certain place, when he ceased, one of his disciples said unto him, Lord, teach us to pray, as John also taught his disciples. Lord teach us to pray! Notice how the verse reads. “as he was praying in a certain place” Jesus had a certain place He went to pray. One day  one of His disciples asked Him, “Lord, teach us to pray.” Now as we read on there are something’s to pick up on. Jesus never told His disciples they needed to have a special place or time for prayer. Read what Jesus did say”When ye pray” whatever time whatever place, whatever schedule you have to pray “When ye pray” Luke 11:2 (KJV) And he said unto them, When ye pray, say, Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done, as in heaven, so in earth.

The first thing we must ask ourselves is, are we praying? If we aren’t praying, if we are not asking, Lord “forgive us” then how are we going to be able to forgive others? We are good at saying “that’s not what I meant, I should have used different words.” “Oh I’m sorry it was just a misunderstanding, that’s not at all what I was talking about.” 

I wrote all that to say this: If we are not willing to realize we ourselves need forgiveness then we may not be willing to forgive others. We are all leaders of others. No we may not be speaking about leadership abilities in front of 100’s or 1000’s but we are all leaders to someone. Maybe it’s just your husband or wife. Maybe your children or maybe you are the supervisor over others. What you do and say is very important because you are either building up or tearing down. What did you do when you let your temper speak this morning to your wife or husband? Your children may have heard, what are you going to do about that? What about that person that’s under your supervision? Yes problems need to be addressed but how they are addressed and handled is very important. We may need to ask ourselves’ have I ever made a mistake? How would I like to be spoken to? “Masters, give unto your servants” give, build, strengthen. Telling someone they are dumb and what in the world were you thinking? That may not be the correct way to address or handle the matter. Why shouldn’t we lead like that? ”knowing that ye also have a Master in heaven.” Is that the way we want our Heavenly Father to treat us? I wouldn’t think so. 

😳Including Joe👨‍💻

God proved His love on the Cross. When Christ hung, and bled, and died, it was God saying to the world, ‘I love you.'       ~ Billy Graham ~

Respect for instruction is what the rest of the chapter is teaching. 

Colossians 3:22 (KJV) Servants, obey in all things your masters according to the flesh; not with eyeservice, as menpleasers; but in singleness of heart, fearing God: Don’t get upset at the word “Servants” pride may jump up within us and say “I’m not anybody's servant. The truth be known we are! Webster says this about the word SERVANT “A person, male or female, that attends another for the purpose of performing menial offices for him,who is employed by another” Well I guess we can all fit into this meaning. If you are employed there is someone over you, your boss, supervisor someone telling you we have to get this done today. Like it or not you do it. We are told what type of attitude we should have. Attitude is everything, our attitude mirrors out toward others that work with us and look up to us. Colossians 3:23 (KJV) And whatsoever ye do, do it heartily, as to the Lord, and not unto men;

“And whatsoever ye do” doesn’t matter what we are doing or who we are doing it for “do it heartily” With zeal; actively; vigorously.  Eagerly; freely; largely; not for your boss nor your company but “as to the Lord” that type of attitude will change our perspective. If our supervisor were to say “we need to get this project done in the next 8 days and if we do there will be a nice bonus added to your check.” Wow, now we work harder to get it done, weekends, all the sudden didn’t matter, getting it done is what mattered. Well that's good but it’s doing it for men and that’s fine but it’s when we aren’t doing it for men that matters.  

Colossians 3:24 (KJV) Knowing that of the Lord ye shall receive the reward of the inheritance: for ye serve the Lord Christ. Our attitude should be with zeal and eagerly that what we should be working toward. Yes it’s great to please men but our goal should be that we are doing things in a manner that will be pleasing unto the Lord. Why? Because  verse 25 closes with these words “there is no respect of persons.” The place you work for may have a nice meal after the project thanking everyone for their hard work. Most of the time the one thanking everyone will say something like this “I want to thank everyone for their hard work, for their sacrifice and long hours which without we could have never accomplished this project. Then that group of hard working employees may hear the speaker say “and I want to give a special thanks to Joe Miller for keeping this project on track for without his input we might have never completed it.” Now this is the time it will show who you were really doing it for. How that part of the speech affects you will determine who. If we are not careful we will let the respect of a special person affect our attitude. What’s the correct answer and how should you or I respond to that? Who we were doing it for in the first place. If we were doing it for men, respect toward another will affect our attitude; you might say something like this “Joe Miller is a nice guy but without us Joe i nothing.” On the other hand if you are doing it for the Lord your attitude shouldn’t change, bonus, dinner, and speech won’t matter. Why? Because God ”is no respect of persons.” Including Joe!

🤔Think Before Speaking🗣️

You can't control the length of your life. You can control the depth     ~ Billy Graham ~

Colossians 3:21 (KJV) Fathers, provoke not your children to anger, lest they be discouraged.

“Fathers” Why not mothers? Don't mothers provoke their children? {to stimulate (especially to anger} You know they do from time to time. So why is only “Fathers” mentioned? Let me explain it this way. I was talking to my grandson this morning and he began to tell me about a superintendent over the job he was working at. I guess he thought I didn’t know what a superintendent was. Because he told me he was the one who made sure everything on the job ran smoothly. I said this because it doesn’t matter if it is a construction site, corporation, small business, candy store, our home or whatever someone has to be responsible or in charge. 

Ephesians 5:23 (KJV) For the husband is the head of the wife, even as Christ is the head of the church: and he is the saviour of the body. In the home it just so happens it’s the husband. I know that doesn’t sit well with all but God said the “husband is the head” there is always someone in charge. Fathers are the head of the home they are not to discourage their children. If the dad is not to discourage then he may be the one who is to encourage. Many children never hear words of encouragement from their dad. Well if they aren’t hearing words of encouragement then they are more than likely hearing words of discouragement. Oh what a difference it would make in our children’s lives if they  were hearing words of encouragement.  My business has taken me into many homes over the years. The man I worked for when I first started taught me a valuable lesson that has helped me tremendously. He said no matter what type of home you go into, always find something there that you can say encouraging words about. That is not hard: the baby, the child, the picture, the dog, the way the room is arranged and many more ways, just look. Myself as well as everyone else wants to hear kind encouraging words. I was in one of my accounts at a post office and I noticed that a lady had changed the way she was fixing her hair. I told her “I like the way you have your hair fixed now.” I was just being nice and giving words of encouragement and letting her know she wasn’t just another lady sorting mail that wasn’t  noticed. This was her response: “I wished my husband would notice.” Oh my I wasn’t expecting that. Fathers, husbands provoke not “lest they be discouraged.” I gave her words of encouragement being kind but what she really wanted was that her husband give her those words. It’s easy to notice the bad, it takes work to notice the good. What have you seen today?  The young boy cut the grass for his dad hoping to hear some type of words of encouragement from his dad. His dad arrives home from work. His son was looking out the window hoping his dad would notice that someone had taken time to cut the grass. His dad got out of the car, stood still, looked over the yard and then went straight to the tool shed. He then turned the lawn mower over and went into the house. He found his son who was hoping to hear words of encouragement; only to hear words of disengagement of how he had chipped the lawn mower blade. We as fathers must remember lawn mower blades and the likes can be replaced but children can’t. Think before you speak.