Life Lessons

It's interesting where you can gain insight for life. The above pictures are signs at "Jimmy John's" (an incredibly yummy sandwich place) that actually have some really good advice. Take this one for example "Offer your seat to senior citizens, pregnant women, and people with firearms", I mean that is pretty darn good advice. There are lots of other good lessons on these signs (if you can't read them, I highly recommend that you go to Jimmy John's. I order the Gargantuan in case you need help deciding what to order).

It just so happens that today, I read some additional lessons that are even better than the ones above. These lessons come from 1 Thessalonians 5 and were the "Final Instructions" from Paul to the church in Thessalonica in his first letter to them.

• "...respect those who work hard among you, who are over you in the Lord and who admonish you."


• "Live in peace with each other."


• "Warn those who are idle, encourage the timid, help the weak, be patient with everyone."


• "Make sure that nobody pays back wrong for wrong, but always try to be kind to each other and to everyone else."


• "Be joyful always, pray continually, give thanks in all circumstances..."

Imagine for a minute what your life would look like if you followed these instructions. While the two signs from Jimmy John's are somewhat humorous and provide some good tips, in a world where we can get life lessons from just about anywhere, I encourage you to look to God's word. The bible is not just a good guide for moral living. The bible reveals to us true life because it points us to Jesus. Let Him be your source of not only life lessons but of life itself.

How do you love?

Our society uses the word love a lot. We love pizza, cheeseburgers, the Huskies, our wife, our kids, baseball, football, etc. (OK, so this is my list, but not exactly in order). The point is, we throw the word love around for just about anything. Unfortunately, by doing that, we water down the significance of the word. We lose the meaning as we quickly and easily fall in and out of love with things.

Even though our society uses the word so frequently, we actually have a hard time showing real love. What is even more unfortunate for me as a pastor and a Christian, is that the lack of love is just as prevalent among Christians (sometimes even more so) than among non-Christians. That shouldn't be the case, after all, the word says that the world will know us by our love for one another, yet, far too often, people within the church can't seem to get along. If that is the case, why would anyone outside the church ever want to be like those inside the church?

I have recently been convicted about my lack of love for others. Simply put, I need to do a better job of loving people. While it can be easy to say we love certain things or people, it is a whole lot different to actually show it. This is why 1 John 3:18 stood out to me this week - "Dear children, let us not love with words or speech but with actions and in truth." In other words, don't just say you love someone, show them!