tanhaBlessing and Violence
September 27th 2006 13:46
There are two possibilities when we a re interacting with another person. Either we benefit them or we harm them. Not to benefit them is actually to harm them by neglect if nothing else because no-one likes to be ignored! It damages self-esteem.
At a barbecue I once was told how the leader of a team on an oil rig managed his men. When they made a mistake he simply said "Next time try it this way." and showed them how to do it. These guys actually loved their boss, they told me,for he was like a father to them. This was not your usual reaction for rig boys. They liked being treated as intelligent even when they made a mistake.They enjoyed someone who was interested in their development career-wise. It pleased them to be invited to a barbecue outside of work and make them feel valuable (hospitality is a wonderful gift for building people's personal worth).
Other bosses in the company were less sensitive and trod on everyone's corns. They didn't manage to win loyalty from the men. Their attitude was, by default, one of violence. They used people for their own advancement without thought of the men. To treat anyone with anything less than respect and honour is actually violence. How much of this violence is obvious every day in relationships around you? How much do we contribute to a violent society?
God hates violence! He once cleaned up the earth with a flood - why - because he couldn't stand the violent ways in which people treated each other. The flood is no myth - it's inthe folklore of a huge variety of geographically distant peoples and is a good explanation for the laying down of fossils in amazing layers of rock. Scripture predicts that violence again will become dominant on the earth in the last days.
Blessings are on the head of the righteous, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked. (Proverbs 10:6) Most violence is verbal! Have you suffered from verbal violence? Words are instruments of blessing or weapons of destruction. We each create an environment for others with our words. What will it be?
At a barbecue I once was told how the leader of a team on an oil rig managed his men. When they made a mistake he simply said "Next time try it this way." and showed them how to do it. These guys actually loved their boss, they told me,for he was like a father to them. This was not your usual reaction for rig boys. They liked being treated as intelligent even when they made a mistake.They enjoyed someone who was interested in their development career-wise. It pleased them to be invited to a barbecue outside of work and make them feel valuable (hospitality is a wonderful gift for building people's personal worth).
Other bosses in the company were less sensitive and trod on everyone's corns. They didn't manage to win loyalty from the men. Their attitude was, by default, one of violence. They used people for their own advancement without thought of the men. To treat anyone with anything less than respect and honour is actually violence. How much of this violence is obvious every day in relationships around you? How much do we contribute to a violent society?
God hates violence! He once cleaned up the earth with a flood - why - because he couldn't stand the violent ways in which people treated each other. The flood is no myth - it's inthe folklore of a huge variety of geographically distant peoples and is a good explanation for the laying down of fossils in amazing layers of rock. Scripture predicts that violence again will become dominant on the earth in the last days.
Blessings are on the head of the righteous, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked. (Proverbs 10:6) Most violence is verbal! Have you suffered from verbal violence? Words are instruments of blessing or weapons of destruction. We each create an environment for others with our words. What will it be?
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