by Audrey Bauman

Philippians 4: 4 NLT

"Always be full of joy in the Lord. I say it again—rejoice! 5 Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do. Remember, the Lord is coming soon."

"Let everyone see that you are considerate in all you do." I looked up the word considerate in a Thesaurus: thoughtful, respectful, caring, helpful, gracious, hospitable. Is that me/you? Considerate in all I/you do?

I remember a time several years ago when our family spent a year in Kenya on a mission station. I discovered that in Kenyan culture, whenever you met someone, you stopped and asked them how they were doing. You had a chat about something in your life. That was done with everyone you met! We discovered we needed to do that, or the Kenyans would avoid us in the future.

That drove me crazy. For example, I'd be on the way to the mission high school where I taught, and I would meet a Kenyan who likely worked somewhere on the mission station. I needed to stop and talk. I would likely meet more than one Kenyan on that walk, so I discovered that I needed to set out early so I wouldn't be late for school. My husband was working in the mission hospital (which was quite large) in computerizing their data from paperwork. Sometimes he would have to go into Nairobi to a government office to get some information, and he would wait in line most of the day. Every person in that office ahead of you would chat with the government official. Both of us really struggled with that part of their culture. We just wanted to get the work done! But that was one area where God really worked in us, and helped us realize we needed to be considerate.

That was a rather extreme example, but God wants us to look at all those people around us in our lives with consideration - thoughtful, respectful, caring, helpful .... I know, that's a hard list. Take a few moments to think about how you go about your day. Likely you are a considerate person most of the time. But where are those situations where you tend to ignore someone, avoid someone, be a touch impatient with someone ...?  

Ask God to help me/you be that thoughtful, caring person with everyone.

Our song for today is Your Love Awakens Me by Phil Wickham.