Be Friendly

January 7, 2012

Practice hospitality to one another (those of the household of faith), [Be hospitable, be a lover of strangers with brotherly affection for the unknown guests, the foreigners, the poor, and all other who come your way who are of Christ's body..]
1 Peter 4:9

In today's society we are all in a big hurry.  The busier we get, the more we simply go about our own business and shut others out.  Even more so, we only tend to associate with the people we see as equals of ourselves.  We look at other people and immediately judge their religious, social or economic status and (subconsciously) decide whether or not we will ackonwledge them.

Without the fellowship of others- along with the developments of advanced technology such as Facebook and texting- we are in danger of becoming relationally retarded!  We are forgetting how to communicate with others..we simply want to be heard.  Conversations have become somewhat one-sided.  This, I feel, is part of the reason for so many failed marriages as well.  We bury our heads into the computer or the cell phone where we can type or text our thoughts and feelings and don't ever actually have to consider anyone else.  Then when times get tough and we need to talk things out - we excpect it to play out the same way. 

I also recall the scripture:
"Be still and know that I am God."   Psalm 46:10

We need to slow down and MAKE (not just TAKE) the time to find the positive and speak it.  If we wait around on the perfect opportunity to say something- it may never come.  Stop and make the time.  There are even times when I am thinking something positive and I don't speak them- I keep them to myself.  I think we have also been conditioned to not want others to "get a big head" so we compliment others less.  I think that if we all started just giving a smile or compliment to one new person a day- we would also find ourselves a lot happier people.

I pray: that God will help me to slow down and find the positive in every situation and people- and to tell them.  That I will not judge and will remember that every person is of Christ's body and regardless of who they are.