I stopped behind a car at a red light the other day and noticed a bright sticker on the rear window boldly stating: “New Driver. Please Be Patient.” Given all the road rage we hear about (or experience), what a great reminder to be patient with other drivers.

As I looked at the sticker, I wondered what would happen if people carried around signs that alerted us that they’re a “New Parent” or “New Christian.” If we knew what our neighbors or coworkers or others we encounter throughout our day were going through, would we be more patient and even help them deal with their struggles?

We may be rushing through our days trying to avoid being interrupted by others, but let’s consider how Jesus treated people. He wasn’t in a hurry. He had compassion on people and took the time to comfort and teach and show love to those He encountered.

As believers in Jesus, we’re called to “live a life worthy of the calling [we] have received” (Ephesians 4:1). The apostle Paul says that includes being “completely humble and gentle; [being] patient, bearing with one another in love” (v. 2) and making every effort to live in peace and unity with each other (v. 3).

We may not know what challenges people are facing, but we can be patient with them. Let’s be an expression of Jesus’ love to everyone we encounter on our daily path.

Source: Our Daily Bread

A Danish study explored the phenomenon most of us have experienced: perceiving ourselves as younger than we really are. The findings suggest a constant—whatever our current age, we all see ourselves as 20 percent younger. A fifty-year-old tends to imagine herself as forty years old. (This conjures up a comical scenario in which a child thinks, “Wow, I’m five, but I feel I have the energy and looks of a four-year-old!”)

It doesn’t take a scientific study to state the obvious: we’re all growing older. And Scripture has much to say about this. Isaiah’s words were issued to an Israel that had aged and become weary, but as one commentator says, “This promise to Israel, enfeebled and grown old as a nation, is applicable to every aged follower of Christ.”

The prophet reminds us of God’s provision throughout the life of everyone who has been faithful to Him: “I have upheld [you] since your birth, and have carried [you] since you were born” (Isaiah 46:3).

So as we stew and fret about growing older, we’re reminded that God is still with us. He promises: “Even to your old age and gray hairs I am he, I am he who will sustain you” (v. 4). Whatever age you are (or the 20 percent younger you imagine yourself to be!), embrace today God’s promise: “I have made you and I will carry you” (v. 4).

Source: Our Daily Bread

During the US civil rights movement, famed New Orleans cook Leah Chase did what she could. She prepared food and fed those who were marching for equal rights for all people. She said, “I was just feeding people. They were fighting for something, and they didn’t know what they would find when they went out there. They didn’t know what would happen to them on the streets. But when they were here, they knew I’d feed them. That’s what I could do for them.”

The gift of hospitality may sometimes be overlooked, but it can be just as important as other forms of serving others in Christ. A businesswoman named Lydia—”a dealer in purple cloth” (v. 14)—showed hospitality to Paul and the other preachers spreading the good news about Jesus to the people of Macedonia (Acts 16:11-14). She used what she had—her home—to help the traveling team. After accepting the gospel message, Lydia insisted on providing a place for the preachers to rest, saying “If you consider me a believer in the Lord, . . . come and stay at my house” (Acts 16:15). Much like the civil rights workers, Paul and his coworkers didn’t need to worry about a meal due to Lydia’s hospitality.

Gifts of hospitality can go a long way in helping all people—both fellow believers and those who still need Jesus. Let’s serve others as God provides what we need to help them.

Source: Our Daily Bread

The average person checks his or her phone one hundred and fifty a times a day. Let that sink in a minute. Something has our attention, and it may not be for our good. Tristan Harris believes this. He’s one of the voices in a film that features some of the top names in technology, people who ushered us into “social media.” But instead of praise, their voices are sounding an alarm, calling our reality (and the film) The Social Dilemma. “We’re the product. Our attention is the product being sold to advertisers.” We give our attention to what we believe is valuable or worthy. And in a very real sense, what we give attention to we can find ourselves worshiping.

That word “dilemma” indicates a situation where a choice has to be made. Believe it or not, we face such a dilemma in our spiritual lives, a choice we have to make daily: Who or what will I give my attention to? In other words, Who or what will I worship?  The psalmist clearly made his choice: “Every day I will praise you [God] and extol your name for ever and ever” (Psalm 145:2). The verse that follows gives his rationale: “Great is the Lord and most worthy of praise; his greatness no one can fathom” (v. 3).

The psalmist believed nothing compared to God’s greatness, and so he focused his attention there. God and God alone is worthy of our praise.

Source: Our Daily Bread