What prevents people from being committed? At times, people do not fully commit because they are looking for the next thing, the next step, the next job, or relationship.  The problem with this mindset is that it does not allow for you to become fully engaged where you are at. Leaving your options open is not necessarily a bad thing or a wrong action. However, it can be if it interferes with you being able to give your best at the moment. Being only halfway committed to something is not commitment at all. It is usually not fair to whatever you are doing at the moment. When I got married, I fully committed to my wife and family. I was going to give my best. Because of our commitment, no matter how well or how badly things went, I was willing to work through the issues. Today people are too flighty; they are in one day and out the next. This kind of attitude will not get you very far. You will end up being moved by every circumstance that arises. You will gain the attitude of “when things are good, I am happy; when it’s bad or tough, I want to quit”. If we are not careful, we will develop the habit of quitting. No matter what your hand finds to do, commit to doing and giving your best. Let’s learn not to be moved by every circumstance that comes along. Commitment is not a bad thing; it is a great thing. It keeps you focused and allows you to pay attention. It will help create a pattern of success in your life.

Just a Thought,

PSS

Legacychurch.com

In our everyday lives, we will encounter moments or situations that will need to be dealt with. In other words, we may need to confront some issue with someone in order to resolve some dispute or a disagreement. The word “confront” is defined as coming face to face with, especially with defiance or hostility. It can also mean to come against, encounter, to face especially in challenge, and to cause to meet, or bring face to face.

Do you get the picture? To confront means that I’m going to come face to face with someone and deal with an issue. In our society, people have come up with the notion that it is better to leave issues alone, rather than confronting them. A person may think, “I don’t want to start a problem.” However, the real problem is that having this kind of mindset will prevent anything from ever getting resolved. In life, there will constantly be conflict present. I believe that it’s better to deal with issues than to keep packing hurts, disappointments, and lack of understanding away and trying to manage it emotionally on your own.

Confrontation is good when it is done in a proper manner. Never do it in anger; if you do, the person you are confronting will see only your anger and not the issue. You also need to be willing to see the other side; sometimes we deal with things from our own perspective; when you hear the other side, understanding can come. You need to also understand that simply because you think something, doesn’t make it so. Don’t work to be right, as much as you work to resolve. Always look for places to find agreement. Remember, confrontation done in the right way, with a proper perspective, is always good.

Just a Thought,

PSS

Legacychurch.com

Deception is defined as a trick, falseness, guile, hypocrisy, fraud, or causing one to believe what is not true. In our world today, there is so much deception; people are being deceived constantly. One of the reasons for this is our lack of knowing. However, truth reveals deception. People seem to be easily deceived these days, whether they are being tricked, they want to ignore the truth, or they don’t want to know the truth. You may hear this statement, “I just don’t want to know.” When I hear this, I am always amazed at how people don’t want to hear the truth; even when they do, they don’t want to believe it. It doesn’t matter what the situation is. Maybe people do not want to know the truth because knowing the truth will hurt or cause one to have to make some sort of decision.

Some people will avoid pain at any cost. Others choose to be self-deceived. This describes a person that denies or rationalizes away the relevance, significance, or importance of opposing evidence and logical argument. In other words, they just don’t to want to know the truth. They believe that if they don’t know, then they cannot be held responsible. The way to prevent deception or being deceived, in our lives, is to love truth and honesty. In a sense, preventing deception means that you are willing to be responsible and truthful. I have found that those who are deceived are looking for something to get hurt about or they just do not want to change. Some choose to hear one side of a story and come to a conclusion. We must hear both sides of a situation and seek the truth, before making a decision. To do otherwise, only leads us down a road of deception.

Just A Thought,

PSS

Legacychurch.com

True friendship is difficult to find, but when you do, you should do everything you can to keep it. One friend, that we should all have, will be the closest friend we will ever have. He is the one who will love us no matter what, and who will overlook our faults and shortcomings. He is the one who will never be offended. The friend that is being described is God, the one who created us all. He is the Father of our Lord Jesus. Outside of that friendship, it is said that if you have two really close friendships, consider yourself a lucky person. Now it is true that you will have different relationships at different stages of your life. The friends that you have in high school may be different than your friends in college. Your friends in college may be different than your friends when you enter your career and get married. However, if you are lucky enough to have two close friendships, work to keep them. Every relationship goes through ups and downs, so be quick to forgive and let things go in order to preserve the friendship. In other words, don’t take a friendship for granted because you may not find another one like it. Some of you are lucky to have five, true friends in your lifetime; whatever number it is, it is likely to be a very small one. Be sure to work at your friendships, be quick to forgive, and quick to repent. The one friend that we all have, if we believe, is one that will stick closer to us than a brother, and that friend is the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ.

Just A Thought,

PSS

Legacychurch.com

In this life, we will all have some moments of adversity that will test the strongest among us. Diversity is defined as a state or instance of serious or continued difficulty or misfortune. Someone once said, “He learns to welcome misfortune, learns that adversity is the prosperity of the great.” We will all have to face challenges, but how we face them, how we act, and respond to these moments will make the biggest difference in our lives. You may be between success and failure, moving forward, or getting stuck in your past. The greatest thing about dealing with adversity is that you get to choose how you will respond. Do you allow it to hinder your life, destroy your beliefs, your family, or destroy your future? Or do you face it, look it in the eye and say, “I will overcome you, I will not allow you to hurt me to the point that I quit in life, quit believing for the best, quit believing things can and will improve.” You must believe that this difficulty shall pass. For most of us, adversity is not permanent; it is only temporary, unless you allow it to become a permanent fixture in your life. It’s up to you; adversity can make us stronger or we can allow it to become something that remains hurtful to us. We are overcomers; we have been given that ability, but of course only you can make the decision to overcome in your life. Let’s choose to work through adversity.