Which of the following are similar to the ways you've served Christ in your family? [check all that apply]
• Taught your kids to see God's glory in nature
• Washed the dishes without being asked
• Played a board game with your kids
• Encouraged your wife to finish her master's degree
• Attended a child's open house at school
• Worked fewer hours to be with your family
• Set an example of a godly prayer life for your children
• Held a crying child
• Swung on the tire swing with your daughter
• Told your wife why you're still in love with her
• Told your son he's got what it takes
• Coached soccer
• Let you child correct you now and then
• Fixed the vacuum cleaner
• Taught your sons to ride a bike
• Listened patiently to a complaint of your wife
• Taped your child's artwork to your office wall
• Admitted to your kids that you were wrong
• Told your children how Christ entered your life
• Cleaned up vomit
• Taught your children to love books
• Been romantic without expecting sex
• Told your daughter she's smart/beautiful
• Set standards for your kids and stuck to them
• Dealt graciously with a busybody neighbor
• Peeled carrots
• Watched movies together
Uncivil War Theme of the Week: Go and Be Reconciled Wednesday, September 4, 2002
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September/October 200255Uncivil WarTheme of the Week: Go and Be Reconciled Uncivil War Theme of the Week: Go and Be Reconciled Wednesday, September 4
Key Bible Verses: "Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. Pray for the happiness of those who curse you" (Luke 6:27-28). Bonus Reading:Luke 6:29-36
At Antietam, 10,000 were killed in a single hour. At Gettysburg, 2,000 men charged across a field and up a hill; less than 300 struggled back alive. The nation recovered from its incredible losses (more American lives lost in the Civil War than in any other) nursing great hatred.
Yet in the South, one man led in reconciliation. Urging forgiveness. Tirelessly urging those who'd fought for the Confederacy to pray daily for their former enemies. Writing hundreds of letters to friends across the South, urging no return to hostilities or rebellion.
He was Robert E. Lee, commanding general of the Confederacy. When asked to wear his uniform for a parade, Lee refused, saying, "I'm a soldier no longer." When a visiting clergyman criticized the North at a social gathering, Lee pulled the man aside, saying, "Doctor, there's a good old Book which I read and you preach from that says — [he quoted today's Key Bible Verses]. Do you think your remarks were quite in the spirit of that teaching? Since the War's end, I have never cherished toward them bitter or vindictive feelings, and have never seen that day when I did not pray for them."
—John Trent in Choosing to Live the Blessing
My Response: To obey my Lord, I've decided to quit making critical remarks about …
Thought to Apply: I am a patient man—always willing to forgive on the Christian terms of repentance, and also to give ample time for repentance. —Abraham Lincoln
Adapted from: Choosing to Live the Blessing (WaterBrook, 1997) by permission.
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