The (bond) beginner’s introduction to two crazy-important themes

Learning to be a bondChristian takes a lot of work. It takes even more work if you don’t know how or what you need to learn.

One of the first steps in learning anything is defining what exactly you’re trying to learn. At bondChristian, there are two sides of education that we try to learn. Everything fits into at least one of these two sides.

1. The first side is learning to want to serve others. This includes, for example, shifting from a self-oriented perspective to an others-oriented perspective and discovering your motivation for serving others.

2. The second side is learning the skills to actually serve others. This includes understanding how others think and behave and how to deliver what they need.

This site, bondChristian.com, attempts to cover both sides.

How to learn these two sides

The answer to these two sides are summed up in two themes that run through this entire site.

Thankfulness

The general answer for the first side is thankfulness. Discovering and cultivating thankfulness motivates us to want to serve others.

“Oh, give thanks to the LORD! Call upon His name; make known His deeds among the peoples!” -1 Chronicles 16:8

Encouragement

The general answer for the second side is encouragement. Reminding and establishing others is the best way to serve others.

“When he came and had seen the grace of God, he was glad, and encouraged them all that with purpose of heart they should continue with the Lord.” -Acts 11:23

Everything in one way or another comes back to these two principles, thankfulness and encouragement. Knowing some of the theory behind what this site is about will hopefully give you a clearer, “big picture” idea of what you can expect here. It also helps you anticipate how to create your own Serving Suggestions, which is really my goal.

Serving Suggestions:

(1) How does thankfulness factor into what you do daily? Take a moment to reflect on how thankfulness plays into your life. Does it?

(2) How does encouragement factor into what you do daily? Take a moment to reflect on how encouragement plays into your life. Is it part of what you do… or is it what you do?