“How Are You?”
Mr. Paul Kearns, an area pastor for over a decade in New Zealand, presented the forum this past Thursday.
Mr. Kearns began by asking us, “How are you?” He clarified that this is often a polite greeting, where the person posing the question does not expect or even want a heartfelt reply. The point of the forum was to encourage us to be more aware of how those around us are doing and to take the time to care for our fellow man.
Mr. Kearns expressed that human nature is carnally self-centered, yet we can use God’s Holy Spirit to help us care for others. We find in Second Timothy that men will be lovers of themselves during the end times. Self-love and a focus on the self are rising, which is why we, as Ambassadors for Christ, need to put off the carnal spirit of man and grow in the Holy Spirit.
With the rise of various technologies such as Facebook and Instagram, people can converse in a shallower way today. We are losing our connection with people and focusing more on ourselves as a society. Since we are inherently carnal creatures, it comes as a surprise that the decreased connection with others has resulted in astronomically higher levels of depression. As a societal whole, we crave the likes and approval from others through the screen and are caught up in receiving it. A simple solution to this is to follow in Christ’s shoes, honestly care for the other person, and put the mind off of oneself. When we feed our carnal desire to dwell on ourselves, we are hindering ourselves and others. We need to put the focus off the self and more on our brothers and sisters.
Mr. Kearns guided us to 3 John, which shows that letters were a nice tool at the time, but there is still a time when face-to-face communication is necessary. This can be compared today to a quick text. Texting does have a purpose, yet Mr. Kearns pointed out how much more intimate a phone call is. He took it another step further and said that if at all possible, we should be going out and visiting local brethren and others in person.
As he closed, Mr. Kearns left us with three keys to grow in caring:
- Know others by name
- Talk less and listen more
- We show we care through action
“Asking how people are is not the end goal, but the starting point.”
We left the forum excited and eager to show our care for others. Before going to lunch, we all asked each other, “How are you?”
