Think a minute…Winston Churchill was 65-years-old when he first became England’s Prime Minister. It was May of 1940 and England’s military was not prepared for war. When Hitler’s massive German army began attacking the British Isles, almost all of the experts expected Germany to quickly and easily conquer England.
But these so-called experts could not imagine that in only seven months, Winston Churchill’s extraordinary leadership would help change the history of both England and the entire Western World. During those months, when the families of Great Britain gathered in their homes to listen to their leader over the radio, their feelings of fear and hopelessness were replaced with great confidence and courage. Why? Churchill knew exactly how to inspire the English people to believe in themselves and in their just cause of defending freedom by stopping the spread of evil tyranny. Consequently, defeating Germany’s massive military monster became “England’s finest hour.”
It has been said: “People who feel good about themselves do their best.”This is true whether it’s at work on the job or at home with their family. If you want people to change, you must help them believe in themselves so they will want to change and become their best. But when we continually criticize or shame our children, our wife or husband, or people we work with, we only hurt them and tear down their self-confidence. So, why should we expect them to become better when we’ve made them feel and believe they cannot become better?
We all do our best when we feel good about ourselves. A successful businessman says: “Instead of catching people doing something wrong to criticize and punish them, try to catch people doing something right and praise them for it. Then they will want to keep doing that right thing and always do their best.”
This is why Jesus teaches us to love others as ourselves. Make others feel good about themselves the way you want to feel good about yourself. Won’t you ask God the Son to forgive you for the wrong ways you have lived and treated others? Then ask Him to start changing your heart, so you can become your best, and help bring out the best in others. Just think a minute…