How do you treat others?

(Mark 6: 4-6)

4Jesus said to them, "Only in his hometown, among his relatives and in his own house is a prophet without honor." 5He could not do any miracles there, except lay his hands on a few sick people and heal them. 6And he was amazed at their lack of faith.

So many read this passage and think that they can relate to it so well. Why will they not believe me, why won't they trust me, why will they not listen to me? We too feel like we have no honor in our hometown, or among our family members.

My question is this, how do we view other people. Think of people that you know, do you give them the credit that they deserve, or do you tend to look at them, not for what they are, but what they can do for you? I think it is safe to say that we withhold honor form those around us daily, we might not mean to, but we do nonetheless.

I think it was the same for Christ. Those that new him as Jesus the son of Joseph, they could not believe that he could be the messiah. He grew up around them, they knew him, or at least thought they did. As a result, they did not listen. Notice how it says that he could do very little because there was so little faith among them.

Are we guilty of treating others in our life the same way? If we fail to put our faith in others they will never succeed, we have to make sure that we look to see people for what they are, not drag them down with our preconceived notions of what we think they are. Are we robbing people of their honor because we see them through such a small window? We should strive to be lifters. (Mrs. Brooks 4th grade) If we follow the teachings of Christ we should be looking for ways to build others up, to preach the good news, and support our fellow brother. When we spend our time tearing others down, we are not following Christ. We are to love our neighbor as we love ourselves. So I urge everyone, give of your faith freely, just as Christ is faithful in us, we should be in others. I would rather give freely of my faith, while building up those around me and be disappointed in a few failures, than to horde my faith, and never see all of the success that my fellow man is capable of.

Peace,
Rev. T