The Gospel in Two Words: Be Nice

So, I guess some of you are wondering what was going on yesterday when I closed with “be nice”? Well, the deal is, Dr. Sam Mathews spoke at my father’s service and talked about what being nice is all about. I will try and paraphrase and share the best I can...You see, Dr. Mathews explained to us that after years of theology and seminary school, hundreds of books read and lectures attended, he found the message of Jesus could basically be boiled down to two words, “be nice”. Yep, simply put, being nice to others is in a sense showing love. Pretty simple and sweet I’d say. I like it. Bottom line is this, we are people of faith, we are called to the Great Commission. We know we are to spread the gospel and the love of Christ. What a better way to start than to “be nice”? Aren’t we all attracted to folks that are nice? That’s what I thought.We don’t have to always agree with one another, we don’t have to share the same political party. What ever our differences are we can still love one another. We can still treat each other the way we would want to be treated. Somewhere in here I’d swear we are talking about the Golden Rule, no?“"So whatever you wish that others would do to you, do also to them, for this is the Law and the Prophets.”Matthew 7:12 Let’s try something today. Try and be aware of everything going on today and be present. Be present in that I want you to be on the look out for a chance to “be nice” where you otherwise might be disinterested or dismissive to someone. Make an effort to be nice and when you do, think of my dad and smile...cause I promise you, he’d have already done both. Be nice,