Don’t we all wish that everyone would be a better person? Do we not hope that some bad people would turn their lives around and start doing good? Do we wish our neighbors would treat us better than before? Do we hope that the people we meet each day would show us respect and treat us fairly? If we expect others to be nicer and fairer, should we not make the effort as well? The golden rule is that we should treat others the way we would want them to treat us.<\/p>\n
Be a better person now. Do not wait until next year and make a resolution about it. Do not put it off until next week or even tomorrow. Start right now. Look at the person closest to you and show them love. Pick up the phone and call someone who would appreciate thoughtful consideration. Help someone who needs it, and even if they do not need help, help them anyways. Perhaps they will turn the favor and help someone else. If we would just try, we could turn our society around and make it a pleasant adventure each day to interact with others. Smile. Wish someone a nice day. Be courteous. Encourage others to be good. Tell people about God and His promises. Read I John 3:17 and meditate upon it.<\/p>\n
I John 3:18 reads: “Little children, let us not love with word or with tongue, but in deed and truth.<\/em>” Don’t just talk the talk, but walk the walk. Show your love to others.<\/p>\n I John 4:20 reads: “If someone says, ‘I love God’, and hates his brother, he is a liar; for the one who does not love his brother whom he has seen, cannot love God whom he has not seen.<\/em>“<\/p>\n One way to turn your life around is to change your focus. When you focus on God you become a better person. When you focus on helping others, you become a better person. Our goal is to get people focused on God and become people that are better. Our community would be much better if more people were better.<\/p>\n Come and visit us. Come worship God with us. Let us help you get to heaven and you come to encourage us to get to heaven as well. We know that God is not willing that any perish (II Peter 3:9). You must believe that Jesus is the Son of God and died on the cross for your sins. (Acts 8:37). You must repent of your sins (Luke 13:3), you must confess Jesus as Lord (Matthew 10:32) and you must be baptized for the remission of sins (Acts 2:38; 22:16). Then you must remain faithful and continue learning how to serve God (II Peter 3:18). Let us help you on your spiritual journey. May God bless you in your study of His word.<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" by Carey Scott Don’t we all wish that everyone would be a better person? Do we not hope that some bad people would turn their lives around and start doing good? Do we wish our neighbors would treat us better than before? Do we hope that the people we meet each day would show us…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"jetpack_seo_schema_type":"","footnotes":"","jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false},"categories":[27],"tags":[642,374,1287],"class_list":["post-55149","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-christianity","tag-happiness","tag-joy"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":39444,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-should-christians-treat-illegal-aliens\/","url_meta":{"origin":55149,"position":0},"title":"How should Christians treat illegal aliens?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"June 25, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: How should Christians feel about illegal aliens? The Old Testament teaches us to be welcoming and hospitable, but they are technically breaking a law. Many of them are coming here for safety, and my heart goes out to them. How do we balance God's mercy and love for everyone\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":27529,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/what-is-a-hypocrite\/","url_meta":{"origin":55149,"position":1},"title":"What is a hypocrite?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 24, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: What is it to be a hypocrite? I remember a time when one friend wanted me to give him more attention, but there was a friend of his who was always talking to him, and he just ignored him.\u00a0So I said, \"You want to get attention from me but\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":84918,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/should-those-with-mental-illness-be-treated-as-shut-ins\/","url_meta":{"origin":55149,"position":2},"title":"Should those with mental illness be treated as shut-ins?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 22, 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Dear Sir, Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ! Sometimes, people with clinically diagnosed mental illnesses, like MDD, anxiety disorders, bipolar, etc., have episodes. They don't want to go to church because they feel judged and misunderstood. Sadly, some of them don't feel safe while in the church because\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":28221,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-go-about-having-a-relationship-as-a-christian\/","url_meta":{"origin":55149,"position":3},"title":"How do I go about having a relationship as a Christian?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 28, 2011","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hi, I want to start by saying how I appreciate your help to others as seen through your web site. My question is: I recently got saved and have been in secular relationships before. There is this lady in our fellowship group whom I am deeply in love with\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47744,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/how-do-i-forgive-someone-who-slapped-me\/","url_meta":{"origin":55149,"position":4},"title":"How do I forgive someone who slapped me?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"March 23, 2016","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Hello, This kid at school slapped me and did other things that I did not like and now it is hard for me to forgive him. How can I forgive him when he hurt me? Thank you. Answer: \"Take heed to yourselves. If your brother sins against you, rebuke\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":81895,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/is-mental-illness-a-spiritual-or-physical-condition\/","url_meta":{"origin":55149,"position":5},"title":"Is mental illness a spiritual or physical condition?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"December 14, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Greetings in the name of Jesus Christ! I am very grateful to God for having found your site, and I have been learning a lot. What I like most is that your answers are teachings from the Bible and not just your own opinion. May God continually bless you,\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Answer"","block_context":{"text":"Answer","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/answer\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55149","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55149"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55149\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55149"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55149"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55149"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}