Caring for People: A Most Important Job!

“No one cares how much you know until they know how much you care.” Good proverb and good practice! We are often long on knowledge and short on compassion; correct on doctrine, offensive in nature! We would do well to remember Jesus did not die for buses, budgets, and buildings; not for carpets, cooling, and committees. He died for people.

Here are some common sense rules in working with people:

Speak to people! There is nothing as nice as a cheerful word of greeting.

Smile at people! Smiling is the international language. It takes 72 muscles to frown but only 14 to smile. And it pays dividends!

Call people by name! The sweetest music to anyone’s ears is the sound of their own name.

“Greet friends by name” (3 John 14).

Be friendly! The best way to have a friend is to be a friend. Jesus was a “friend of sinners” (Luke7:34).

Don’t put strings on your love! None of this, “I’ll love you if…” Jesus loves “because” and “in spite of.”

Be genuinely interested in people! It’s easy to treat people as if they are really worth something if you remember THEY ARE!

Be considerate of the feelings of others! The Golden Rule applies: “Do unto others as you would hove them do to you” (Luke 6:31).

Be thoughtful of others’ opinions! There may be three sides to a controversy: yours, the other fellow’s, and the right side!

Be alert and give service! The “servants” and the “givers” are the ones on the way to “greatness” (Matthew 20:26). Jesus came to serve (Matthew 20:28).

In our efforts to be doctrinally right, organizationally right, and ministry rich, let’s not forget that we work with people–the most precious commodity in the world. Handle with care…Handle with prayer!

Tim Woodward
Smithville, TN

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