How should I act?

Luke 3:10"What should we do then?" the crowd asked. 11John answered, "The man with two tunics should share with him who has none, and the one who has food should do the same."

12Tax collectors also came to be baptized. "Teacher," they asked, "what should we do?" 13"Don't collect any more than you are required to," he told them.

14Then some soldiers asked him, "And what should we do?" He replied, "Don't extort money and don't accuse people falsely—be content with your pay."

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Thinking of others did not come naturally for me. When I got married. my wife had to teach me how to think of others. She would serve people scrumptious food, give clothes away and listen to people. I had none of that.

Serving others is something that needs to be taught, learned and practiced. It is not natural for us to serve one another. When I tried serving people for the first time, it was great. Over time I ran into the people I didn't want to serve.

The person who always has to get the last word or the person who has nothing but poison in their heart makes it difficult to serve them. The person who is always complaining or saying discouraging things about me never ranks high on my serve list.

John is busy pointing humans toward a life that pleases GOD. He tells us that JESUS is on HIS way so prepare yourself. Fight your natural tendency to be selfish, sneaky or power hungry.

• He tells the person with plenty to share with the person who has nothing.
• He tells the person who is in business to make the right amount of profit and don't gouge the people.
• He tells the person in power to not misuse their power for greedy gain.

It sounds like John wants us to be "nice." Don't nice people finish last? This is where many Christians are conflicted. They don't want to seem like push over’s. John followed GOD's ways and was never tempted by the things of this world. He was hardly a push over.

JESUS never sinned, never owned a possession and was the nicest human who ever existed. HE was not a push over. Being nice doesn't mean you have to take abuse from people with poisonous hearts. Being nice means you point your life to CHRIST.

• When I act nice towards someone they are more open to hear about CHRIST.
• When I act nice towards someone, my anger subsides.
• When I act nice towards someone, GOD gives me peace that I don't understand.

I find that it takes courage to be "nice" to people. Paying for a strangers meal, dropping in a toll for the person behind you, holding the door open and smiling at a frowning person takes courage.

Approaching the bitter, mean, nasty person with "nice" takes even more courage. It takes a lot of practice to approach this type of person. In the words of John, JESUS is returning soon, have HIM find you doing something "nice" for someone.

• Is it tough for you to serve the difficult person?
• Are "you" the difficult person?
• Do you give to organizations?
• Can you give directly to a person who has nothing?
• Are you fair with your dealings?