Good morning,
Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving with loved ones!! Watched a great sermon on TV over the long weekend and it was all about honor. The title of the sermon was, “What people should remember about you!” The main point of the talk was about giving yourself the gift of honor. If you honor yourself, others will also honor you. I totally agree with this.
If I stop and think about what Jesus said and did in the Gospels, He loved people and hated sin. He loved sinners, but hated sin. I remember being so surprised when I first started reading the Bible and saw the word “hate” in there! Jesus hates what sin does to people. If you think about a food you do not like and refuse to eat–hard-boiled eggs would be that food for me, you could not convince me to eat them. I don’t care what you say or how long you put hard-boiled eggs in front of me. So, if we decide to hate a sin in our life, we need to honor ourselves and start to think of that sin like we would a food we refuse to eat. In the same manner, we can choose to honor ourselves by treating our inner talk and our actions with what people should remember about me! Do I honor myself by saying that or living out this, or talking about the good in people, or helping when I see a need? Do I want a win-win outcome?
I want to be a reflection of Christ, not cast a reflection to Christ!
I met a man years back now, who truly reflects the image of Christ. His name is Allan Law and he was at the time, a 5th-grade teacher in the Minneapolis schools. He saw kids on the streets at night, no dinner and just wandering around. He started making sandwiches to pass out to them and it would open a conversation and he could tell them Jesus loved them and so did he.
Allan decided way back then: If they were going to be out all night, so was he!
Allan started driving his van around the worst streets of our city to be the night watchmen for these people. He would give them bus tokens so they could ride the buses and stay warm in our below-freezing weather. He started a recreation center. I can’t even write down all the things he has done. That was in 1967!! Others found out that he was making the sandwiches and offered to help him with that small piece and it turned into over 500,000 sandwiches a year and 17 freezers in his own apartment. He is still doing this and if we do the math, this year is 50 years!! I love this man’s heart for people! I love how he honors himself with a lifelong mission that people will remember about him. He demonstrates discipline, sacrifice, joy, responsibility, meaning, hope, and so many more honorable things.
This time of year, I call him up to see what he needs and give him the capes made of blankets that our family makes on Thanksgiving. This year he was asking if I had heard about the homeless man who had walked to get gas for a woman and somehow, they had raised over $300,000 for the homeless guy. You see, Allan still has a flip-phone and doesn’t know anything about a computer!! While still on the phone with him, I started a gofundme.com page for him. I have never done this either and had my son Charlie and Jack, his business partner, come over and be my IT guys to get this page up and going. I don’t have a Facebook page so my request to you would be if you could put this gofundme.com story on your Facebook so people can help to donate so Allan can get a warehouse and hopefully much more for his outreach. https://www.gofundme.com/alan-law-needs-a-warehouse.
The gift of honoring yourself is the best present you could ever give! It leaves a story of your life that you will be remembered by! Romans 12:10-11 says it well: Love one another with brotherly affection. Out do one another in showing honor. Do not be slothful in zeal be fervent in spirit, serve the Lord.
Love you, Teri
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