Staying Spiritually Connected--Week 5

Welcome back for another installment of SSC!!  I hope you've been gaining some knowledge and understanding what we, as Christians, can do to be more spiritually connected in our daily lives as much as I have!  Its always great to have some fresh ideas and have your eyes opened to things you may have forgotten!



This week we'll be talking about becoming more accepting.  In today's world, especially with recent events that has caused alot of people to talk about bullying, this is a pretty hot topic in my opinion.  Sometimes it IS hard to not judge someone.  Think about it, you may be driving down the road and see a woman walking down the street, scantily dressed, and immediately in your mind your already putting a 'label' on her.  You may overhear someone's conversation and by the tone of their voice, or perhaps something you heard them say,  you make a judgement call on what type of person they must be.  We all do this..its just human nature I believe.  But, as Christians, we know we are not to judge.  God is the ultimate judge and really..its not something we need worry about.  We need to concentrate on ourselves more times than not.  Being accepting of others can be a hard process, especially if say the person is someone you know, and they have done you some wrong.  We should be willing to pray for a more accepting heart.  Because like I said, its human nature to make calls on people based on different aspects.  Thankfully, the good Lord knows this, and has given us the power of prayer! 

When we become more accepting of others, this process makes us more gracious.  Think about what gracious really means.  "Pleasantly kind, courteous, merciful, compassionate, charaterized by good taste" to name a few definitions.  I don't know about you, but I'd definately like the label of being gracious!!  Just think if the whole world was more gracious to one another, how much better a place it would be.  I'm not saying we have to tolerate the wrongs of others and let people walk all over us (thats a whole other issue).  God plainly states in the Bible that He hates sin..but not the sinner.  This is what we should keep in mind as well.  Being gracious is a definate trait of a Christian, we should try to be gracious in all our ways and even in our thinking.  I'm going to try to be more gracious from now on and when I fail..pray that God helps me to have a more accepting heart!