by Audrey Baumanm

Proverbs 3: 3 - 4   (NLT)

^“ Never let loyalty and kindness leave you!
     Tie them around your neck as a reminder.
     Write them deep within your heart.
⁴ Then you will find favor with both God and people,
     and you will earn a good reputation.”

Ah – the secret to popularity.  We get so sidetracked in our Western culture.  Popular people are beautiful to look at, they wear stylish clothes, they have money to spend, they throw great parties, and they go on fabulous vacations.   Just look at all the popular people who grace the covers of our magazines.  

But God says loyalty and kindness are the keys to popularity - the keys to God’s favour and to those ordinary people we rub shoulders with each day.

For the most part, the people that I meet are kind.  But every once in a while, I bump into folks who are really nasty – maybe they’re having a really bad day?  But I bump into unkind situations enough, that it makes me wonder if we tolerant Canadians are not so tolerant after all.  It appears the pandemic has made us more likely to argue.  

So as Christ followers, those verses from Proverbs give us a heads up about how ‘to make friends and influence people’ – be loyal and kind.   As people who attend LSA, let’s be kind to each other, and support each other as best we can. When we hear about someone who has some kind of need, let’s step up. When we hear about things in our community that need our support (Matthew House or Downtown Windsor Community Collaborative or food collections) let’s help out.  We need to have a kind and loyal attitude reflected in our behaviour which endears us to each other and also gives us that reputation in our community, but more importantly makes God smile. 

Our song for today is Noone Like Our God by Matt Redman