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Teach your teenagers; That as important as it is about what happens to them in their lives. It is far more important; "How they react to what happens to them in their lives."

"Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understandng; in all your ways acknowledge him, and he will make your paths straight." Proverbs 3:5-6

It does not matter who we are, whether we are the President of the United States, the Pope, or a up and coming celebrity to the world. Or just an ordinary person like me, the importance of our legacy or deeds will not depend on what we feel is important to us, such as the title or the position that we obtain, or even if we surpass our personal goals and accomplishments in our lives,

I believe that It all comes down to our attitude and the purity of our heart and faith that we show towards others.

We can pretend to others that we are compassionate but we will always be convicted by the purity of our heart's.

How can we lead one person to Jesus Christ if our heart is bitter towards that person.

I believe that the destination of our Souls will come down to how we react to how we treated all others, and did we care if all others go to Heaven too!

Think about this simple Biblical truth for just a moment,

It is the nature of people to not care about you, unless you show them first, just how much you care about them.

Jesus led by this example, He showed others how much He cared about them first, by His Words, action, and the purity of His heart,

"We love because he first loved us." 1 John 4:19

He showed us the purity of His heart when He could have dined at the dinner tables of royalty and upper society, but He chose to eat His meals with us, at the tables of those whose spirits are low and whose hearts are heavy. 

He showed us that He cared for us and the poor when He could have chosen to be born in a royal palace, but He chose a stable filled with animals and their collective waste,

He showed us the humility of His heart when He could have rode on a beautiful stallion, but He chose to proudly greet us, riding on a humble donkey,

He showed us just how much He loved us when He could have chosen to not go through the unimaginable and hellish and indescribable torture and called for legions of His angels to save Him. Instead He chose to believe that we are worth it, He gladly chose to love us and to protect us from the eternal damnation that we all deserved, He willingly died for our sins so that we may live.

Would most of us give up our lives and  follow Jesus if He did not show us by example how He reacted by showing us that He first loved us?

Would God's Word or doing things His way mean anything to most of us over thousands of years if we did not believe in the purity of His heart of His unconditional love and the attitude of living a  life of total forgiveness?

Would any democratic Country in the world, knowingly support a political leader who openly and publicly did not care about what is important to his people.

Would most of us even care about our very own parent's who brought us into this world, or other family members, if we truly believe that in their heart and by their attitude that they did not care about us,

It is how we react toward others in life, whether positively or negatively that people will remember us at our funeral, not the legacy of our accomplishments, college degrees, or how much money we made.

So always teach your children that the best way for you as a parent and for them as a teenager to get through your lives together in the way that is both a blessing to you and to God, is to try and remain spiritually calm to your reaction in what ever life deals your way. From how you react in the treatment of all others or when things seem to go wrong in your life.

"I have told you these things, so that in me you may have peace. In this world you will have trouble. But take heart! I have overcome the world." John 16:33

Be like Jesus, don't go through life freaking out, being negative,  jumping to conclusions, blaming and offending everyone who has the misfortune of crossing your path.

Because by only coming to that quiet place that is in each one of us, can we come to a state of peacefulness and holiness can we truly listen to the tranquil, stillness of God's voice when we go through the chaotic spiritual storms in our lives.  Instead of us straying to a bitter and unforgiving heart, we will desire to be spiritually embraced by the supernatural healing of a forgiven heart. People will remember you by how you positively reacted with unconditional love, grace and spiritual calmness to the circumstances in your life and to the people around you.

"So do not worry, saying, "What shall we eat?" or 'What shall we drink?" or 'What shall we wear?" For the pagans run after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them."              Mark 6:31-32

Remember out thoughts are not just an mental ideal that just pops inside our head for a moment, but that they can become physical "good or bad things" that can stay with us throughout our day at school, work or play and even while we sleep. If we let them, they can either bring us immense physical joy or bitterness, fear and anger. 

It's ok to train our attitude to have a certain amount of " healthy respect of certain fears" that exist in our daily lives, it keeps us from running in front of a moving car, jumping off of a cliff, or playing with fire.

It's not ok to have the kind of "attitude of fear" that is not from God, that literally makes us panic and trample over other people without any regard for each others lives, as we have seen happen at Music concerts, sporting events and natural disasters.

"Have no fear of sudden disaster or the ruin that overtakes the wicked, for the Lord will be your confindence and will keep your foot from being snared." Proverbs 3:25-26

It's sad, but in late 2005, in a single tragic inccident over a hundred innocent people were injured or died due to panic and fear over in the middle east. Not just from the bomb blast of a suicide bomber, but from people who panicked from hearing that there might be a suicide bomber in the vicinity. When I saw this on the news, I thought how tragic that the terrorist killed more people from using our own fears that day. I don't even remember if a bomb went off that day in that location or not, I just remember just the tragic and senseless lost of countless innocent lives because thousands of people panicked without no regard for other lives that they trampled over. God does expect us to live like His Son Jesus did, and Jesus whole ministry was about how He reacted to others and what happened to Him throughout His life. It's called unconditional love and living a life of total forgivness.

"Do not be afraid of those who kill the body but cannot kill the soul." Matthew 10:28

God believes in you

Reverend Michael Cartwright

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