Don't Play Fair

Don’t Play Fair

“But I tell you who hear me: Love your enemies,

do good to those who hate you, bless those who

curse you, and pray for those who mistreat you.”

                                          Luke 6:27

The title of the chapter did its job, catching my attention and peaking my interest. After all, from the youngest age we had been taught, in everything we did, to play fair. Choose teams that were even, no changing the rules in the middle of a game, no dealing from the bottom of the deck, no hiding outside the boundaries of “hide and seek”, etc, etc, etc. The author of the book was Henry Cloud and his perspective on playing fair is one we could all benefit from.

We all know what fair looks like: you’re nice to someone, fair is that they’re nice to you in return. Someone says something not so nice, even downright cruel about you, fair gets to say something equally cruel about them, I mean “it’s only fair.” And we all know what unfair looks like too; it’s when the scales are apparently tipped in someone else’s favor and they seem to either be getting away with something or being blessed in a way they don’t deserve.

“Don’t play fair” certainly fits with what Jesus taught us. His challenge to bless those who curse us runs totally counter to the culture we live in as does the call to pray for those who mistreat us. The same is true for loving our enemies. We just have to think for a minute what an enemy tries to do and how an enemy acts towards a person in realizing that asking us to love our enemies, to love those who do wrong toward us and who are out to do us harm is certainly not fair. But it certainly is right and here’s why!

We often forget that thoughts become actions, actions turn into habits and habits form our character. So if an enemy, or the enemy, can get us to react in a certain way in the interest of fairness, we end up hurting ourselves and becoming someone we don’t want to be. If we stoop to the level of another in being cruel with our words and vindictive in our desires, the loser will always be us. God has called us to live a life of love and kindness and he is looking for men and women of Christ-like character. And the surest way to get there is “don’t play fair.” Just as Jesus demonstrated on the cross, look to give more than you receive in every situation and in every relationship. Learning to not play fair is a giant step on the road to success in life.

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church

Extrapolate

Extrapolate

“Let us not become weary in doing good, for at the proper
 time we will reap a harvest if we do not give up.”
                                                    Galatians 6:9

Have you ever had a word get stuck in your head? Did you ever have a thought that is confirmed over and over again by a variety of people?  That is what has been happening to me for quite a while now with the word “extrapolate.” The definitions of the word extrapolate are:

·         To use existing information to discover what is likely to happen in the future

·         To project into the future based on what is known

·         To extend to a greater length

In a day when we all tend to live in the moment, saying what we want and doing what feels good, the message of the word extrapolate is to think out the end result  and ultimate consequence of our actions before we do them. A decision on buying something might need to take into account whether the debt being incurred is worth the enjoyment of what is being bought. An action might be enjoyable but considering how it would affect our relationship with the Lord or our testimony to other believers might save us from a whole lot of trouble. At the same time, an action that we might be leery about might have real potential for good and for changing a life. And just a little thought might convince us that the hard thing we weren’t going to do would really pay off down the road and is the right choice for our future. Taking time to extrapolate will both prevent the bad and encourage the good in our lives.

With our words, the challenge is to consider what response and reaction our words will produce before uttering them. James warned us to be slow to speak, encouraging us to take a minute to consider if our words will bring life or death. A short look at what our words might produce will often make us decide to hold a thought and to just be quiet. At other times, we might realize the positive impact an encouraging word would make in another person’s life and decide to go out of our way to contact them and sow something good at a time of need.

Henry Cloud called this practice “Play the Movie,” seeing our actions as one scene in a movie and, only after viewing the movie, deciding if we want that scene to be a part of the movie of our lives. At times we will like what we see and at other times we won’t. But the key is we get to decide how the movie of our lives will play out. Take time to extrapolate; you’ll find it well worth the time and effort!

God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church