Appeal... in all purity!

"Do not sharply rebuke an older man, but rather appeal to him as a father, to the younger men as brothers, the older women as mothers, and the younger women as sisters, in all purity." (1Timothy 5:1-2 NAS95S)

Observation:  Dealing with people is an issue of purity.  And how we do it is just as important as what we do.  The attitude of our actions is critical.  As Paul says:  "Appeal.... in all purity."

And a pure appeal is one which treats our elders as father and mothers, and our pears as brothers and sisters.  A pure appeal considers others as people and not objects.  A pure appeal is what the book Leadership and Self-Desception would call leading outside the box.  Rather than viewing others as a threat, those who make a pure appeal see them as people with very real needs, and very real problems.

Application:  This morning's text is an affirmation of all I experienced yesterday.  We celebrated my wife's birthday at Trujillos in Alamosa, and afterward drove around to look at houses.  All the while, my seven year old son kept saying, when are we going home... I want to go home... let's go home.  After about an hour of this, after repeatedly saying, this is your mom's day and we're going to be driving around and looking at houses, I lost it.  I blew my lid.  I hate it when I do that.  

Fast forward to bed time.  I tuck my kids in and I say to my oldest, "Son, forgive me for blowing up.  It is not the way I should have handled the situation."

Then I sat down to read from Leadership and Self-Desceeption, and I'm hit with the reality that I had been treating my son as an object and not a person.  Seeing him as a threat to my time and conversation with my wife.  Man, this practical Christianity stuff can be tuff.

Prayer:  Lord Jesus give me Your heart.  It's a prayer I've been praying for a while now.  Not only do I need Your heart for the lost, I also need Your heart for my family.  I need a pure heart.  Not a heart that is deceived with the lie that my kids are a hindrance to my marriage and my work.  My kids are a blessing.  O Jesus give me your heart:

Matt. 5:8   "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God.