Bringing Joy

 

Be willing to be critical of yourself, how you use your time, how you use your money, how you talk to people, and how you talk about people to other people. The foundational question here is do you bring light, life, joy, and happiness into the lives of other people? Do you exist to make the world a better place, do you improve the quality of life in your culture, in your social circles, in your family, and in your extended family?

Do not judge others for their failings, for their life choices, or for the way they speak, act, or treat other people. Be the first to judge yourself, find your weaknesses, find the areas of life in which you have failed, and begin to make adjustments to these so that you bring joy and excellence to those around you.

If you are a parent, are your words and your actions in agreement with one another. The way you raise your children, the way you live and the way you speak will form your children into something that will most likely correspond with your life choices. Are you striving to be holy, are you striving to be different from the culture in which you live, and are you putting in great effort to be contrary to the corruption that surrounds you?

Pay careful attention to what you take into yourself, like food, like exercise, and your use of time, are you putting beauty, health, and quality into yourself? Or are you finding yourself entertained by the vain and empty Hollywood mindset? Do not settle for childish things, do not allow yourself to be filled with foolishness and mindless violence. Find excellence, find quality, and fill yourself with these things, do not allow yourself to be distracted by entertainment that is directed toward children or those who are immature.

Roles and Responsibilities

 

We can all think of different people, different responsibilities, and different roles in many different areas of our lives. The traditional family is made up of father, mother, and children. The extended family includes grandparents, uncles, aunts, cousins, etc. It is incredibly important that each person involved in the family fulfill their responsibilities by providing, by loving, by protecting, and by training their children, grandchildren, nieces and nephews to love God, to love their neighbor, and to pursue holiness.

Father and mother have an incredible amount of work before them, which includes living a life that is a good example for their children. When children see their parents speaking and acting in certain ways, they will likely imitate them. The responsibility of the parent is to live a life that is a pursuit of holiness, walking a path that the child will see as worthy of imitating. If one or both of the parents are involved in any kind of immoral or depraved behavior, the child will become confused and will wonder why their behavior does not align with their professed belief.

A parent that abuses their child, does not protect their child, or introduces depravity, sensuality, or perversion to their children are certainly failing for the work that has been set before them. A child should feel safe, feel protected, and know that they are loved by their parents, and should not need to look elsewhere to feel safe and loved.

If a child lives in fear of what their parent may do to them every day, that child will be miserable and terrified about the quality of his or her life. When a child is happy, content, and is excited about spending time with their family, then you can know that the parents are doing something right. It is when a child is frightened of being alone with a parent or other family member that something is seriously wrong.

Psychology experts talk about recognizing behavioral signs or speech patterns in children. It is important to know your child well, to understand if they are happy and content, and if they are not then you need to put in extra effort to help that child feel safe and loved. If you see strange behavior in your child when they are around certain people, you need to uncover what is happening that would make them respond in such a way.

Possibly the most important aspect of being a parent is to train your children to love others, to serve others, and to treat others with respect and honor. Just as Jesus did not live for himself but instead, he sacrificed himself to save mankind from the corruption of sin and death. When a child sees their parents acting and speaking in love toward and about others, the child will imitate them.

Transition

 

There are two types of people in the world. One, there are “the people of God”, that is, the Church, and two, there are “the not-people-of-God”, that is the world and any other religion. When someone is baptized into the one, holy, Apostolic Church, there should be a radical transformation that takes place in their life. This is about transition from living in a worldly manner like the culture in which you currently reside. To living in a way that is focused on loving God, loving your neighbor, and pursuing holiness.

This concept needs to be given careful and articulate thought. Drive away from your mind the image of the typical American Evangelical church, which is really just a showy performance, usually led by a rock band performing for the audience to watch. This so called “worship music” is then followed by an inspirational and typically money based “sermon”, where the speaker is emotionally, and psychologically manipulating those in attendance.

If you are careful and thoughtful about the history of the one, holy, Apostolic Church, you will see that what is sold today as American Evangelicalism is nothing like how the Church has worshipped over the last twenty centuries. A genuine worship service is based around prayer, the reading of Scripture, beautiful music, candles, incense, and beautiful icons. The worship service is not about being entertained, listening to a long sermon, and simply watching others perform.

Historically speaking, the one, holy, Apostolic Church did not have long wooden benches upon which to sit. Instead, everyone stood and there were a few places to sit for those who are elderly or handicapped. The entire service is about being involved in worship, in singing, and in communal prayer. One of the most important aspects of the worship service is about staying focused on what is being said, what is being prayed, and what is being sung. Do not allow yourself to be distracted by worldly thoughts, vain entertainment, or concerns about what you will be doing the rest of the week.

Think of your mind like an airport, if or when airplanes arrive, you do not need to watch them, think about them, or entertain their distraction. Focus on your love for God, your desire for holiness, and the hundreds of images around the sanctuary, which are a cloud of witnesses, who have lived lives that are a good example for you to imitate. Do not be like the world who allow themselves to be distracted by vanity, wealth, comfort or pleasure.

Raising Children

 

It is an unfortunate reality that most people give very little thought to the way in which they form and structure their home life. The way we spend our time, our money, and how we interact with our children will have a direct impact upon the quality of the lives of our children. What kind of people they will become when they take on lives where they need to make all of their own decisions.

How we discipline our children, how we talk about other people in the presence of our children, how we use our money, and how we use our time will certainly shape their thoughts, their lives, and their passions in life. In most cases, all of these things will become serious influences upon how they choose to approach life, how they will think about other people, and how they will raise and discipline their own children.

Whatever form of discipline we use on our children will direct and control how our children will raise and discipline their own children. It is safe to say that our children will imitate us as they begin to approach life and make decisions. It is not unreasonable to acknowledge that our children will still ask us for help, for direction, and for advice as they begin to move through life as an adult.

As we live our lives, we need to recognize that the way we spend our time, how we spend our money, will communicate to our children what we consider important. If our time and money is spent strictly on ourselves and our comforts and pleasures, it is highly likely that they will imitate us as they move into adulthood. It needs to be a big portion of your life where you show your children by example about caring for and helping others.

What we say, what we do, and how we use our money will communicate to our children the things that we consider important. If you want to be a good person, and if you want your children to be good people, use this opportunity to direct them on a good path of love and concern for others.

Passion

 

Passion is a very strong word with a great number of possible definitions. If you begin a conversation with just about anyone, you can probably learn the one thing that they are passionate about, the thing that is most important in their life. Some people are passionate about being wealthy, some are passionate about being healthy, some are passionate about gaining fame and being well known, while others greatest passion is to be known as someone who is loving and kind.

Whenever you or I meet someone and we learn about their passion, learning this will tell us a great deal about that person, and what kind of person they are. The person who is only and constantly focused on themselves, on being comfortable, on being wealthy, and on being well known, is a person who is selfish and self-centered.

If you can find someone who’s greatest passion is to do good in the world, to help others, and to make their social circles and community a good and safe place, then you have found someone unusual. This is the kind of person you should closely connect with, to allow to influence you and make you a better person.

If you have something of value that you can contribute to those around you and make them, the culture, and this society a better place, then you should make that effort to positively influence as much as possible. If you walk into a room full of people and the room is swallowed in absolute darkness, if you have a flashlight, you can use that light to make everything better for everyone. Bring light, bring life, bring joy, and bring excellence into every social situation in which you find yourself.

Be the person that everyone likes to have present, who likes to associate with, and gain the reputation of being the person that contributes wisdom, guidance, and quality to every conversation.

Focus

 

            It is an important exercise in self-criticism, introspection, and review of how one spends their time, their money, and what captures their attention. There is nothing more important than loving God, loving your neighbor, and pursuing holiness. If you take a few months to review how you live, how you speak to others, and how you treat others, what will you uncover and learn about yourself?

               If everything in your life is about you, about being comfortable, about being entertained, and regularly going on vacation, then you are being foundationally selfish and are lacking the importance of caring for others, helping others, and improving your community and social circles.

               Choose a portion of time each day to document your life and be willing to be critical of yourself as you ponder how you live. After two or three months of this introspection, force yourself to be honest about how you live, how you spend your time and money, and if you are actually doing anything to make your community and society a better place.

               The concept here is focus, upon what are you focused, upon what do you spend your time and money, and are you helping others rather than being selfish and a lover of pleasure? I would encourage you to honestly assess yourself, and most likely re-focus yourself on being a good and loving person.

Forms of Death

 

I believe that most people would agree that death is unnatural and brings pain for those who have been left behind. Most people have attended a funeral, felt grief at the loss of a friend, and remain behind seeing only the empty space that your friend once filled. If those who remain behind after a loved one has departed into eternity, he or she may realize that this unfortunate cessation of life was the best possible end.

Death comes in many forms, when someone leaves this life to go into eternity, we can look at the quality of life in which they existed and we will come to realize that they were suffering, they felt empty, they existed only in despair and grief. To avoid being selfish, we can look at their life and know that they are now in a better place, are now content and safe, and are no longer suffering.

Physical death is the separation of a loved one from his friends and family. While emotional death or mental death bring a different type of separation. When someone’s mind begins to crumble and drifts into delusion without their understanding of what is happening to them, those around them feel sorry for the person as they are no longer who they formerly were.

Sometimes people will give up, will turn away and will take on a different form of life, leaving behind former loved ones, with only concern for their own selfish preferences. If something like this happens to you, it is wisest to allow this person to continue into their life of selfish pursuits. It will bring no satisfaction to you, to them, or to anyone else if you continue seeking to restore the relationship that was lost.