865 A Call to Fathers - Colossians 3:21

Have you ever discouraged or exasperated someone? What happens to others when you interact with them? Are they lifted up, or taken down?   Fathers, do not exasperate your children, so they will not lose heart. Colossians 3:21 NASB   We've spoken for several days about losing heart. Today, I wanted to talk about this verse because it talks about how we can cause our kids to lose heart. Fathers are specifically mentioned in this passage. But I have found that parents and bosses, even friends can lift others up, or deflate them.   When you interact with someone else, what is the outcome? Do they feel better? Are they more optimistic? Do you help them find new energy and hope for the challenges they face? As Christ-followers we live with a promise. We're promised that all things will work together for our good (Romans 8:28). We're promised that Jesus will overcome the trouble of the world (John 16:33).   In this passage, we're challenged not to exasperate, provoke, embitter, antagonize, or discourage our children. Let's not do it to people we work with either.   Today, in your family and in your workplace, what if you intentionally set out to lift others up? Imagine the words that are opposite of the list I just mentioned. What if you made a point to bring hope and encouragement to everyone you meet, coworkers, customers, vendors as well as family and friends? This will limit your complaints about government, or people of other faiths. It will limit our ability to whine and complain. We will have to choose to comment about the good rather than the bad.   But we will fill others with hope and courage rather than exasperating or deflating them. As a man and a father, this has been a challenge for me. But today I have a choice. Today, I can choose to bring energy, hope, courage, rather than stealing it. What will you do today?   Please consider how you respond to your kids or anyone else you interact with today. Don't discourage, encourage. Put life in others. The joy of the Lord is only limited by his people. Will we share that joy or hoard it today. We can help others not lose heart if we'll only share.   Do you need some help with this. We can't all just turn on the joy. We need other believers around us to help restore the hope and joy in us, especially when we're tempted to lose heart.   Why not join a community of believers who exist to help one another. We want to help each other take that hope and joy with us everywhere we go. Check out https://community.followerofone.org and join us for free. We want to encourage believers everywhere to live a life that can't be explained without Jesus being in the center. Why not join us?