reasonable, not defensive, not sensitive…

we are taking here on the front porch the  “am i wise?” test from james 3.17.  how are you doing?  are you honest, do you get along with others, and are you considerate with other’s feeling?   hold in there here is the next one.  james 3.17 (msg), it is…reasonable.

so, are you always critical?  if you are then you are not wise.  a wise person can learn from anybody.  they are not defensive.  they’re open to reason.  they’re not stubborn.  they are willing to listen and learn.  how are you doing on this one?

now this word is used only one time in the new testament.   the word, reasonable - willing to listen, willing to be open to ideas and suggestions.

the living bible says, it allows discussion  it’s easy to be entreated.  so are you a reasonable person?  can your kids reason with you?  how about those people at work?  the bible says if you’re wise, you’re reasonable, you’re opened to suggestions.

or are you, “hey, don’t confuse me with the facts.  i’ve made up my mind.  when i want your opinion, i’ll give it to you.” 

a wise person is not defensive.  most of us are way too sensitive, we are overly sensitive.  if somebody makes a suggestion we take it as a personal criticism and we’re defensive.  james says that’s dumb.  a wise person can learn from anybody.

a new pastor preaches his first sermon and then after it was over a guy walks up to him and says, “pastor, that sermon stunk”.  now the pastor tries to be reasonable and wise so he says, “what didn’t you like about it?”  the guy said, “well, in the first place you read it.  in the second place you read it poorly and in the third place it wasn’t worth reading in the first places.”  another guy walks up and says, “ pastor, don’t listen to old jim.  he just repeats what he hears everybody else say.”  that didn't help.

if you’re wise you’ll be open to suggestions.  don’t criticize, don’t get defensive.  proverbs 12.15 (msg), fools are headstrong and do what they like; wise people take advice.

if it’s true, listen and learn from it.  if it’s false, ignore it and forget it.  if i’m wise i’ll be open to reason.  i won’t criticize your suggestions, i’ll listen to them.

just a thought from the front porch…

sensitive to other people…

we are looking in the book of james in the new testament in the bible at what is a mature person. it says that a mature person is sensitive to people.  are you sensitive to people?

james 2.8 (niv), if you really keep the royal law found in scripture, “love your neighbor as yourself,” you are doing right.

a mature person is sensitive to people.  he doesn’t just see his own needs but he sees other people’s needs.  he understands their hurts.  he’s not just interested in himself.

kids when they’re immature, only see themselves, “i want this, i want that, i don’t care about anybody else.”  GOD says that love, being interested in others is a mark of maturity.

now james gets very specific. james 2.1-6, don’t show favoritism, don’t be a snob, don’t look down on people, don’t judge by appearance, don’t insult people, don’t exploit people.  so this test of maturity is love: how do you treat people.

the apostle paul in the new testament said, “i may win all kinds of people to the LORD, i may build great church buildings, i may be on television [well maybe he didn’t say that but you get the idea], i may give my money to the poor, but if i have not love, i’m as a sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal; it just doesn’t amount to much.

matthew 25, JESUS says, “at the judgment they will stand before the LORD and HE’ll say, ‘I was hungry and you gave me food, I was thirsty and you gave me drink, was naked and you clothed me, I was sick and in prison and you visited me.’  we’ll say, ‘when LORD, when did we do that?  when were you sick and we visited you?  when were you in prison and when were you thirsty and we gave you drink?’ 

verse 45 (msg), HE will answer them, “I’m telling the solemn truth: whenever you failed to do one of these things to someone who was being overlooked or ignored, that was me—you failed to do it to me.”

now it is interesting to note that in the matthew 25 judgment the one thing we’ll be judged for is how we treated other people.  not how many bible verses we knew, how many times we were in church, not what great a reputation we had as CHRISTian leaders, but how we treated other people.

just a thought from the front porch…

it starts with sensitivity...

1 corinthians 10.24 (ncv) says, look out for the good of others.

the first step to kindness is to ask GOD to give you SPIRITual radar, that you would be on the lookout for people in need around you who are hurting emotionally, SPIRITually, physically and in any other way.

some of you don’t need this reminder. you were born sensitive. you automatically sense when people are in need around you. it’s not that you’re more SPIRItual than the rest of us. you’re just wired that way. you’re just naturally sensitive to when people are in pain or whether they’re in hurt.

on the other hand, the rest of you have SPIRITual a d d. it’s easy to get distracted. it’s easy to be task focused and not be sensitive to what’s happening around you.

my wife, margaret is a nurse and a great nurse has the ability to anticipate pain in the patient and then help them.

i thought, that’s the essence of kindness – the ability to anticipate pain, hurt, brokenness, woundedness and then be able to move in and do something about it.

we work with people all the time whose lives are crumbling, but we don’t know anything about it. kindness starts with sensitivity. kindness starts in the eyes. it starts with awareness, observing what’s happening in people’s lives.

we need to start seeing and stop ignoring. the bible says this in galatians 6.8 (the message paraphrase), the person who plants selfishness, ignoring the needs of others, harvests a crop of weeds. all they have to show for his life is weeds.

the fact is, it’s not always easy to see the needs of other people, especially when they’re on the other side of the road. but it’s the starting point of kindness. kindness starts with seeing the needs of the people around you. it starts with sensitivity.

just a thought from the front porch…