How do I love E.G.R.'s? Part 2. This is the daily disturbance broadcast with Anthony Fungini 9. Martin Luther King, love is the only force capable of transforming an enemy into a friend.
Yesterday we looked at three of eight ways how to love E.G.R.'s in our lives, how to love ourselves. Number one is to initiate or strike while the iron is cold. Number two, nurture, patience and number three, cultivate empathy. From a Christian perspective, let's look at number four, Colossians 3, 13, bear with each other and forgive one another.
If any of you has a grievance against someone, forgive as the Lord forgive you. Harness, forgiveness. That's number four. Harness, which means make sure it works.
Make sure it is stable. Make sure it gets the job done. That it will not break. It will not snap.
That's what a harness is, right? It will deliver. Forgive as our sins we pray, right? As we forgive those who sin against us.
Both ways. It's not easy, especially the person has to apologize at all. But our standard is not the other person. Our standard is God himself in Romans 5, 5, 8.
But God demonstrates his love for us in this. While we were still sinners, we weren't apologizing. We weren't confessing. We weren't repenting Christ died for us.
He reached out and gave his life even before anyone confessed. And again, it's not so much for the other person as much as it is for you. Because when you really think about it, that person doesn't need your forgiveness because she's already extended his. One more thing to clarify, forgiveness is not a feeling.
So please don't make it harder than it already is. You don't have to feel it. You just have to choose it. So even if I don't feel it, you mean I could have done it?
Forgive not already, even if I still have those negative feelings, of course, for as long as you do not use those feelings against him anymore against her. See, I may still feel negative, but I will not act upon that negativity to get back at that person because I have already forgiven that person. Proverbs 15, 1. Next, a gentle answer turns away.
Wrath, but a harsh word stares up anger. What's number 5? How to respond to EGR, respond with gentleness. Oh my, something my wife always asks of me.
Respond with gentleness. To respond is not to react. It's to react appropriately. It's to react positively.
How do you react? And not just respond. What about the six F's? Is familiar to you?
Flight? I think you just went away. Fight. Oh my God.
A lot of people in Congress do this when they don't feel, you know, the answer for that, you freeze. You just don't move. And hopefully they will notice, right? For me, the worst is to fake it because that eats you up inside.
And there's another one we unfollow, right? Respond with gentleness. Respond don't just react. And when you respond, do it with gentleness.
The value of take two, you know, we're a media family. My wife's is entertainment. I'm in polyurefares, sometimes in the news. So why me?
Sometimes we say he's the one with an issue. He's the EGR. She's the one. Well, in Luke 1248 from everyone who has been given much, here we go, much will be demanded.
And from one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked. That's why we should give them another chance. We should extend mercy and grace because much has been given to us. If you are on the right side, then you are the one blessed.
Then extend that blessing. Give them another chance. Take two. Let's go to number six, at least a third for the day.
Number six, 28, bless those who curse you pray for those who mistreat you. What's at number six? Invest in prayer. Bless them in prayer again.
Bless them face to face because you can't stand their face. Intercede. Invest in prayer. That's why my self breaks from your lot.
And she prayed for me a lot when I was in that spa in Cancun, as I said, because of some nudists who were in my presence. Romans 838 to 39, for I'm convinced that neither death nor life, neither angels nor demons, neither the present or the future, nor any powers, neither hype nor death, nor anything else, nor all creation will be able to separate us from the love of God that is in Christ Jesus, our Lord. Nothing can separate us from God, God's love. And so, regardless of what anyone has done for me, if I can't face them, I can still pray for them.
I can still intercede. I don't have to intervene. The power of the word. I've only heard this before, but this is a story relayed by Bill Johnson from one of his church members, an elderly woman, as a robber entered her home.
And then she could cry out, was, Acts 2, 36. If you read that verse, it's about repenting, you know, and changing your ways. And the woman, she said that the robber ran away. And she was able to call the cops and the robber was eventually apprehended.
And the police asked him, you ran with just a verse being given to you. That's amazing. A verse? A verse?
A verse. She had an axe and two 36s. The power of the word, the power of prayer. Tomorrow we look at the last two ways of loving EGRs in our lives.
And with words of wisdom from Dalai Lama, love and compassion are necessities, not luxuries. Without them humanity cannot survive.