HERE IS HOW TO EARN PEOPLE'S TRUST

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Today’s Readings:

Genesis 12:1-9

Psalm 33:12-13,18-20,22

Matthew 7:1-5

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The world has a lot of opinions. We have a lot to say about people’s taste in fashion, their speech, their faith and behaviour. But we fail to see that passing mostly negative judgments about others can hurt our chances of building memorable and lasting relationships with them. We need to train ourselves to observe and speak better about others.

Here are a few rules to observe:

Take genuine interest in people – Everyone you see has an interesting story, one that can inspire you, bring you to tears or change your perspective of the world. Give yourself a chance to first encounter people before concluding that they are this way or that. Listen more, speak less – As a rule of thumb, do not conclude that you know about people based on your first impression of them. Engage them in conversation. Let them speak. Give yourself an opportunity to hear what motivates them. You will be pleasantly surprised by how simple and sublime some people are. You might discover also that they have a different set of reasons for their choices than you thought. Being quick to speak prevents you from getting the full picture of the reasons behind people’s choices and actions.

Pay an honest compliment – Look out for the good in what others do. Compliment their appearance and actions first. This way you earn their trust and train yourself to see good in them. God made each of us in His image and likeness (Genesis 1:27). Without a genuine interest in the inherent goodness of others, you will fall short of truly impacting them positively. Innocent until proven guilty – Everyone deserves an opportunity to plead their case. Before you conclude that a person is dressed to seduce others, that a person is pagan and lost beyond redemption, that someone is angry without cause or ungrateful, hear them out first. Give them the benefit of the doubt. Ask questions – The one who asks questions never loses his way. If you are not sure why someone behaves strangely or speaks harshly, ask them why. Smile and begin your question with words like, “Are you aware that…?” Such questions create the possibility that the other person may not be aware of the full implication of their speech or actions. And often that is the case. An incident that could have ended up as a face off could be an opportunity to build trust.

Go through a mutual friend – The goal of correcting others is so that they can become the best version of themselves. If this is your intention, then you do not have to do the correcting directly. Everyone has someone they listen to. Go through such persons if you hope to get a better response from them. Ask your mutual friend if they have observed a certain behaviour pattern in your friend. This is different from idle gossips where you expose the faults of others unduly. You have a log in your eye - We are biased by nature. Admit it and own it. We have limitations. We have emotional attachments to certain persons, beliefs or views. We come from different backgrounds and upbringings that make us favour one thing over another. It is important to eliminate these logs and learn to be gentle with others as well. If you spend time on this, you will have little or no time to observe the flaws in others.

Pray for others - If you truly love people, the best gift you can give them is your prayers. Prayer can do for others much more than you can ever do with your words. By blessing them, you shall also receive a blessing. If you cannot pray for someone, you have lost the right to correct them. Task for the week: Be generous with compliments and slow with criticisms.

JUDE-MARY OWOH

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Prayer:

1. I will sing of the mercies of the Lord forever;

2. With my mouth will I make known Your faithfulness to all generations.

3. Lord, teach me to see my flaws and give me grace to quickly correct them.

4. Help me to take genuine interest in the good of my neighbour and be a stepping stone to their progress and true happiness through Christ our Lord.

5. O Lord, wake Christian families up from spiritual slumber to their divine responsibility upon their children, in Jesus name.

6. Unite the body of Christ O Lord in Your love to their harmonious divine assignment to boldly proclaim the Gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, in Jesus name.

7. Restore our nation , O God; Cause Your face to shine, And we shall be saved, In Jesus name.