Starts With Me 2
Dear Beloved,
I am continuing the last blog post I wrote because so much more came to light after that it was already posted. I'm not canceling out anything that I said, but I am, however, emphasizing it. I want you guys to understand that it truly does start with you.
When you speak, you have power. When you smile, you have power. Everything that you do you have power. There have been moments where my relationship with my brothers hasn't been the best. Constantly arguing, talking bad to each other, not talking, and I know that might sound like a typical sibling relationship to you guys but... that's not how it should be. It shouldn't even be like that with your worst enemy. Matthew 5:24, "But I say, Love your enemies! Pray for those who prosecute you! In that way, you will be acting as true children of Heaven." If treating your enemy like your best friend is acting as a true child of heaven, I'll be the first to say I am way off that spectrum.
I know that I don't like it when I'm rude or disrespectful to someone. but by the time I realized how I was acting, I felt like I would be judged if I flipped the switch all of a sudden. I started to fill my head with stuff like, "They aren't going to take me seriously and they'll think I'm Being fake." or "It's too late to change up" or even, "I don't want them to think that we're friends". But the more I meditated on it I realized that none of that matters! On judgment day God isn't going to take our excuses! He's going to laugh a little bit and send us away. You may be able to convince yourself of your excuses but not God.
I felt so convicted one day that I just gave up. I realized that if I wanted to change my interactions with certain people I was going to have to put in work. Not to clear my name, but to clear His. You see when we claim to be a Christian but continue to act the way we did before, we aren't showing people God's true nature. Instead, we are tarnishing His name. We are giving people reasons not to go to church.
If you are tired of the way things are at home, school, work, church, online, or even within yourself... The change starts with you. You have to push for it. You have to get the ball rolling. If you want the change you have to do something. It's up to them if they receive it or not.
