Healthy RelationshipsSample

HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS DAY SEVEN | DO YOU HAVE A LONG FACE?

Do you have a long face?

I like to laugh and help others to laugh as well, I love a good prank and a joke. Usually, there is a bit of truth to a good joke.

I remember hearing one once about a family who were out for a country drive after church. They were all enjoying the scenery when the car broke down right next to a horse paddock. The little boy looked at the horse hanging its head over the fence and asked his mother:

“Mum, is that horse a Christian?”

His mum replied: "A Christian? Why would you think that?”

And the little boy said: “Oh because he has a long face!”

It’s a pretty sad representation of Christianity, but there’s definitely a good message.

The boy’s experience of Christians and church was of a legalistic, serious, sad and long-faced people, which is a far cry from the example of Jesus and the joy that we have in Him!

Not that life’s always rosy, but how we handle ourselves and our relationships when we represent a God of love and compassion matters. And when we are filled with the Holy Spirit, the seed that grows is beautiful.

Galatians 5:22-23 says: “But the Holy Spirit produces this kind of fruit in our lives: love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control. There is no law against these things!”

You see, the thing about your fruit, is that the people around you eat it....what are you feeding them?

And do you have a long face?