Those of you who tend to enjoy the busyness of life…you are always going and doing, or working and interacting with many different people are having a time adjusting to your new pace of life, and that is understandable.

 

Those of you who are accustomed to enjoying your own space; you treasure your alone time, you have suddenly found your space invaded by your spouse, or your children, or other people who have come to stay with you.

 

When the Apostle Peter wrote his first letter to believers there is no way he could have had us in mind, but what he wrote can certainly help us through times of “over-exposure.”

“Over-exposure” certainly sounds nicer than, “You are driving me crazy!”

 

1 Peter 3

8 Finally, all of you be of one mind, having compassion for one another; love as brothers, be tenderhearted, be courteous;  

9 not returning evil for evil or reviling for reviling, but on the contrary blessing, knowing that you were called to this, that you may inherit a blessing.

10 For "He who would love life and see good days, let him refrain his tongue from evil, and his lips from speaking deceit.

11 Let him turn away from evil and do good; let him seek peace and pursue it.

 

Twelve Relational Guidelines

 

1. Be one of mind… that doesn’t mean we can’t disagree, but we cannot be disagreeable.

 

2. Have compassion for one another… Compassion is “concern for the suffering or misfortune of others.” Just remember it this way, not only are you stuck with others…OTHERS ARE STUCK WITH YOU!

 

3. Love as brothers… You can be polite to strangers, but you have to love each other. politeness is cheap; love is costly because love requires effort.

 

4. Be tenderhearted… The opposite of being tenderhearted is being hard hearted. Don’t let your heart become calloused and the surest and fastest way to becoming hard hearted is by not being quick to forgive. Paul wrote; don’t let the sun go down on your wrath, because anger is like wet concrete that becomes hardened over time. Here is a little fact about concrete; it becomes solid in 24-48 hours, in 7 days it is reaches 70% of its full strength and it never cures completely! It gets harder through the years. So, don’t wait years to jackhammer through the hardness of your heart…deal with it before it becomes hard.

 

5. Be courteous… Do you know why it is easier to be nicer to strangers that to family? Because you don’t have long-time exposure to them! Because you see people you don’t live with for such a short period of time they don’t have time to get on your nerves. Look at being courteous as a job…you are courteous to customers and clients because you get paid to be courteous to them. Be courteous to those closest to you because God will reward you.

 

6. Not repaying evil for evil… We think we are really good score keepers, and that is what motivates us to “get even.” Why do you think God says, “Vengeance is mine, I will repay”? Because we are not as good of scorekeepers as we think we are. Stop trying to get even.

 

7. Not repaying railing for railing… Stop trading insults…but they started it…be the one who drops it. Once you get in the habit of insulting someone it is a hard habit to break. It is always easier never to start a habit that to quit a habit.

 

8. Bless… When David wrote, “I will bless the Lord at all times” what did he mean? We so often ask God to bless us with health, wisdom, and finances. But how do we bless the Lord? The word “bless” means “to speak well of…” I will speak well of the Lord at all times…I will speak well of my spouse at ALL times, I will speak well of my family at ALL times. Not just speaking well “to them” but “of them” to others.

 

9. Refrain you tongue from evil… James talked about what a big fire a little fire can start. You can start a forest fire with a single match. Your words are your matches…you can light the fireplace, the stove, or the barbeque…or you can burn down the forest…when you speak evil you are burning down the forest that took hundreds of years to grow.

 

10. Do not speak deceitfully… Don’t lie. Be truthful, or truth-filled. None of us are smart enough to be good liars. Eventually you will forget what you said and to whom you said it. You never have to have a good memory if you always tell the truth.

 

11. Turn away from evil and do good… Peter reminds us that there are two steps; turning and doing. You just can’t do one. You can’t just stop doing evil; you have to replace it with good.

 

12. Seek peace and pursue it… Peace doesn’t just happen. Peace is pursued. In the Greek this is the word dioko (dee-o'-ko) which is a prolonged and causative form of the verb “dio”
 which means “to go”. So, peace is not a once and done thing, but something we are ever pursuing! Jesus said, “Blessed are the peace makers…” Pursue peace, make peace, never stop going after it.

 

Let me just remind you of a few things:

First, we love you and we miss seeing you!

 

Second, we will be streaming our Sunday morning service from Jubilee at 9:30 on Facebook Live: that is Jubilee Community Church HD. We are also on Periscope.

 

Third, thank you to all of you who have continued support the church financially. If you need to mail a check just mail it to Post Office box 473 Victorville, CA 92393 you can also give online at Jubileecommunityhd.com or pastorray.net also has the link. (I will also post these thoughts on pastorray.net in case you want a hard copy or want to copy and paste it to share it with someone else)

 

The Lord bless you and keep you…