get real

When I was a youth pastor our leadership team would ask each other if we were being "real". We had an acronym for the word. It served as a reminder for what we were being asked to do as leaders and Christians.

R - relationships.
It was important for us to focus on our relationship with God and others. We were supposed to begin a new relationship and deepen a current one.

E - encourage.
People hear enough negatives from people at school, work and sadly enough from home. We decided our students wouldn't hear negatives from us even if it was supposed to be a joke. We wanted them to know they were important and valuable.

A - attitude.
Whatever happened before you arrived got checked at the door. Everything we did, we needed to model a good attitude. Everything was done with energy and the right heart. I love the quote: "fun is not an activity, it is an attitude".

L - love.
This one was a little tough at times. Tolerating some people is hard enough sometimes but to show them love was quite a challenge. It was important for every person to feel loved by us. That made it easier for them to hear and believe that Jesus could love them. We always said that we needed to "love the unlovable..."

My point: Get real. Look at your relationships. Are your words uplifting and encouraging or negative and hurtful? Is your attitude Christ-like? Are you showing the love of Christ to everyone - even the unlovable? God loves them just as much as He loves you.

So what about you? Are you being "real?"