by Terry Wane Benton<\/p>\n
People live in different worlds! Some live in a world of poverty, dysfunction, hate, violence, fear, and hopelessness, while others live in the same poverty but choose love and peace, which gives them hope. The two may live in the same housing projects, but they live in different worlds of experience. Consider also that two rich families may live in similar houses and own similar things. One is miserable, and the other is happy. They live in different worlds on the inside. One is taught to be thankful, caring, and generous to others. The other learned selfishness. They live next door but come from different worlds.<\/p>\n
We each create our own world with certain building blocks of the heart. Being thankful and glorifying God is building block #1. A good world builds up from there. Paul mentions this in Romans 1:19ff. He explains what went wrong and why things got worse. He spoke of where the lives began to go wrong. It started by deciding to build life without building block #1. You can be rich or poor, black, brown, or white, but you can make your world so much better, at least on the inside, with building block #1. The structure of your life and your happiness are not dependent on the amount of material things (Philippians 3:12; 4:8-13).<\/p>\n
What is your first building block? What are you building? Or are you self-destructing? What could your world be like with proper building blocks?<\/p>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
by Terry Wane Benton People live in different worlds! Some live in a world of poverty, dysfunction, hate, violence, fear, and hopelessness, while others live in the same poverty but choose love and peace, which gives them hope. The two may live in the same housing projects, but they live in different worlds of experience.…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","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":[1087,1395,688],"class_list":["post-96274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","tag-gratefulness","tag-gratitude","tag-poverty"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":29547,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-churchs-purpose\/","url_meta":{"origin":96274,"position":0},"title":"The Church’s Purpose","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"January 5, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"by Bill Hall What is the purpose of the Lord's church? Is it to eradicate poverty, disease, social injustice, illiteracy from among men? Is it to bring about a cessation of war and conflict? Is it to campaign for a temptation-free society for Christians to live in? If the church\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":37259,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/the-time-given-us\/","url_meta":{"origin":96274,"position":1},"title":"The Time Given Us","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"February 19, 2013","format":false,"excerpt":"by John R. Gibson In his epic novel depicting a great struggle between good and evil, J.R. R. Tolkien narrates the following conversation about the evil threat of Sauron. 'I wish it need not have happened in my time,' said Frodo. 'So do I, said Gandalf, 'and so do all\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/wp-content\/uploads\/2013\/02\/clock.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":25046,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/why-did-antioch-send-relief-to-judea-if-the-famine-was-worldwide\/","url_meta":{"origin":96274,"position":2},"title":"Why did Antioch send relief to Judea if the famine was worldwide?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"November 27, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Can anyone tell me why the church in Antioch sent relief to the brethren in Judea (Acts 11) if the famine was worldwide? Wouldn't they all have suffered? Were the people in Antioch just more wealthy and could afford to help more needy Christians? Answer: In regards to your\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":24788,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/would-it-be-wrong-to-make-up-a-mythology-for-a-fantasy-story\/","url_meta":{"origin":96274,"position":3},"title":"Would it be wrong to make up a mythology for a fantasy story?","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"October 18, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"Question: Would it be bad to make up a mythology for a fantasy story? I have thought hard about it, and realize that I could try and make the story cleaner (no pre-marital sex, no details of sex, no extreme violence, no profanity), but because it is a different universe,\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":68891,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/christians-and-culture\/","url_meta":{"origin":96274,"position":4},"title":"Christians and Culture","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"July 18, 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"by Chadwick Brewer \"Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect\" (Romans 12:2). \"Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Article"","block_context":{"text":"Article","link":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/category\/article\/"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":47321,"url":"https:\/\/www.lavistachurchofchrist.org\/cms\/a-systemic-problem\/","url_meta":{"origin":96274,"position":5},"title":"A “Systemic” Problem","author":"Jeffrey Hamilton","date":"May 8, 2014","format":false,"excerpt":"by Ethan R. Longhenry For the past 200 or so years, we have seen a fundamental shift in the way that people relate to one another. 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