August 14, 2013

How Rude!

I'll admit I freely operate in the spiritual gift of sarcasm but I try very hard not to use it as a weapon against others. (Note; There is no spiritual gift of sarcasm)  Sadly, civility has become a counter culture value in our society. Have noticed how uncivil our culture has become?  People are just flat out rude today. They’re not polite to each other. They’re not civil with each other. Just log on to your Facebook or Twitter account and scroll down.
Today our nation is becoming more pluralized, we have more people coming in from different perspectives, different places and I think that can be a very good thing.
But we need civility in our culture so we can disagree without being disagreeable.
Why should we want that? Because Jesus said, “Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God.” Not the people who create conflict and division but the peacemakers, the bridge builders.
One of the most famous quotes of Jesus is found in Matthew 7:12: “In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you”  It’s called the Golden Rule. Do unto others as you would have them do unto you. The word for that is “civility.” The opposite of rude.

Civility is just treating other people the way you’d like to be treated, even if you disagree with them — even if they’re flat-out, dead wrong, which they usually are! (That's my joke)
Even if they’re fighting against you, you and I treat them the way we would like to be treated. That’s civility.

I am committing to be a peacemaker today and love people today, even if they disagree with me.       
How about you?

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