“When the people saw him do this miraculous sign, they exclaimed, “Surely, he is the Prophet we have been expecting! ”When Jesus saw that they were ready to force him to be their king, he slipped away into the hills by himself.” (John 6:14-15 NLT)
Of course Jesus is a friend of yours and without argument, He is definitely your best friend. This morning I want to tell you about two other best friends that are not in the same classification as Christ, as a matter of fact, they are not persons you know, but rather some practices or perhaps proven principles that will help you make the right choice every time.
I could just take the shortcut and name them, but let me take a slightly longer route to reveal these two best friends to you. I was in a meeting at the church with a family on Tuesday afternoon. One of the family members shared some wise advice that is given to his team of co-workers at their morning meeting every day. He called it the “Two -Second Rule.” Explaining what this means, he emphasized how many tragedies, multiple troubles, the miserable tearing apart of good things, the taking of life, the turning a peaceful relationship into a practically cracked relationship, and how a ton of other things can avoid going from a positive state to a negative state if, yes, if individuals would just take two seconds to think, before acting, of what they are about to do and the consequences they will face and the domino of consequences affecting others. He is so right! This family member seemed motivated to take the “Two Second Rule” to a higher platform, adopt it as a personal mission. I hope he does.
The “Two Second Rule” can be easily applied with the help of your two best friends: time and space. Take the time, a best friend, to consider what you are about to do, what you are ready, by instinct, to let come out of your mouth and ponder quickly on whether the actions you are going to take will make things better or worst. Take advantage of your other best friend, space, to distance yourself from a situation, de-escalating it as opposed to elevating it to dangerous levels. You can do that with the right words. For example, “I see you are upset, and I want to fix it. Let’s talk about it later and resolve this in a way we are both happy.” Dodge the feeling or fear that you will be perceived as weak by using your two best friends; time and space! Defeat that temptation to operate on the principle that purports the survival of the fittest mentality. Follow the example of Jesus! Just as He did not let anything interfere with His mission or God’s timing for what He was sent here to do, save us from out sins. Follow His lead and you can keep anything from keeping you from falling from your blessed categorization as a peacemaker, opposed to a troublemaker. Store this crisis prevention “training” or teaching in mind. Don’t bury it! Keep it readily available for use when needed. Again, like I shared what was inspired by the family member’s two second rule, share this meditation with others. Take a few minutes to forward it to others! Share away! Ask them to play it forward too! Be blessed!
“Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God.” (Matthew 5:9 NIV)
Still committed to the climb,
Mark L. King