Devotional – Manners

Devotional

Big picture Don’t be mean because someone is mean to you. Behave toward others like you would want to be treated regardless of how they treat you.

• Q: What’s the hardest thing you have ever done?
• Q: Why was it so hard to do?
• Many hard things are physically challenging, but good behavior like using manners is hard in a different way.
• Q: Why is using our manners or being courteous toward others hard to do sometimes?
• Using manners is hard because we want our way, and we are all basically selfish. It is against human nature to put others’ needs ahead of our own. But God asks us to do that, think of others first.
• What is even more difficult is behaving with kindness toward people who are mean to you.
• But Jesus asks us to do just that, to not return evil for evil, but to be kind even when someone is mean.
• Q: Have you ever been nice to someone who treated you badly? If so, tell us about it.
• Read Matt 5:43-44. Jesus says love your enemies and pray for them. Wow! That is real love.
• Others are influenced by what you do. People are watching what you do good or bad. So, when you do something extraordinarily good like loving mean people, it gets noticed.
• That is what Jesus means by Christians being “Salt and Light” to the world around us.
• Christians are “salty” by making the world better, and Christians are lights by showing others the right way to live how Jesus said we should live, the path of goodness and love.
• Having good manners is respecting and honoring others. And we should use our words to do that too.
• We should encourage others and not make fun of others. What we say is a big part of good manners, like “Yes sir” and “Yes ma’am”, “please”, and “thank you.”
• So, remember, our actions (how we love others and put others first) and our words are a choice we make. Every day. We need to make the wise choice to show others what being a Christian means.