Tough Love

This week we focused on tough love. Not the tough love you would receive from a parent or coach but rather a tough love that is love channeled to others rather than to self.
If we were going to be honest with ourselves, we are all pretty selfish. We have a natural tendency to look out for our own personal interests. That could be everyday pleasures, defense, or looking to get ahead in life.

We made a statement that if you commit to tough love two things will happen.
1) We will become better friends, students, children, in every role to others
2) We will learn how to help others become their best. (Last week the focus was on our value God because we are unique and have a purpose. This week we need to convey that message to others!)

In order to make this kind of shift, we almost need to switch places totally with other people in order to see what others really need and are about. We looked at Philippians 2: 1-11 for a plan.

From this text we discover the following:

• Our value is found in God


• We’re all on the same journey


• We tend to look at our own needs first and this should not be!


• If we are selfish we begin to be competitive in relationships, and every area of life and therefore look at others as competitors. We view things as either wins or losses. When there is a winner… there is a loser… no one likes losing!


• WE MUST Focus on Christ’s humility.


• There are rewards…God is Proud… You are a better Student/child/friend, others are better.

We concluded the message with a poem by Emily Dickinson:
"A word is dead when it is said, some say. I say it just begins to live that day."

Make your words and your actions count for building others up. In the context of your life “Beyond the Yearbook” the words and support that are said to you and by you today, will certainly affect your future!