Don’t we all wish that everyone would be a better person? Do we not hope that some bad people would turn their lives around and start doing good? Do we wish our neighbor would treat us better than before‘? Do we hope that the people we meet each day would show us respect and treat us fairly? If we expect others to be nicer and fairer, should we not make the effort as well? The Golden Rule is that we should treat others the way we would want them to treat us (Luke 6:31).
Be a better person now. Do not wait until next year and make a resolution about it. Do not put it off until next week or even tomorrow. Start right now. Look at the person closest to you and show them love. Pick up the phone and call someone who would appreciate a thoughtful consideration. Help someone who needs it, and even if they do not need help, help them anyway. Perhaps they will return the favor and help someone else. If we would just try, we could turn our society around and make it a pleasant adventure each day to interact with others. Smile. Wish someone a nice day. Be courteous. Encourage others to be good, to improve. Tell people about God and His promises. Read 1 John 3:17 and meditate upon it.
“My little children, let us not love in word or in tongue, but in deed and in truth” (1 John 3:18). Don’t just talk the talk, but walk the walk. Show your love to others. “If someone says, ‘I love God,’ and hates his brother, he is a liar; for he who does not love his brother whom he has seen, how can he love God whom he has not seen?” (1 John 4:20).
One way to turn your life around is to change your focus. When you focus upon God you become a better person. When you focus upon helping others, you become a better person. Our goal is to get people focused upon God and become people that are better. Our community would be much better if more people were better. – Carey Scott via Findlay church of Christ, Sparta, TN
BEAUTIFUL FOOTNOTES
BEAUTIFUL FOOTNOTES
She had visited the congregation where I preached a number of times, and we had studied together a few times. The thing that turned her off was the emphasis we were placing on the death, burial and resurrection of Christ, and the importance of the new birth. She brought our studies to a close by saying, “I like my church because we don’t teach any doctrine.”
Community Relationships: This past month has been exceptionally encouraging as we continue to reach out and develop new relationships and search for ways to be effective in our ministry. Most days our activities involve morning exercise whereby we have opportunity to engage others, frequent interaction with neighbors, visiting with owners, staff and other customers at a variety of shops and food vendors, and evening walks/chats with those in our community. Our presence in the community and just striving to make ourselves available has resulted in a number of new relationships. Although building trust takes time, we are praising God for opening doors and forward movement.
I (Dennis) am blessed to be a member of a group of Khmer guys committed to studying God’s Word, sharing the gospel to the lost and strengthening the church. Like the old days at the Bible school, recently we went house-to-house in the countryside telling the gospel story to any who would listen. I love to see their passion that all might hear and believe. Please pray that our group will be light to other believers that they might do likewise. 
Highland Lakes church of Christ 