Elevated Friday, December 18th, 2020

Happy Elevated Friday! Today we highlight a story that shows how people behave when they believe that the norm is to be generous. Recently in Minnesota, a Dairy Queen restaurant experienced a 900 car long chain of people paying for the car behind them’s meal. It started spontaneously and the longer it went, the more people didn’t want to be the reason it stopped! By end of the day, over $10,000 dollars in sales were paid for and over 900 cars participated. Other than just generosity being on showcase here, this also shows how people will behave when they believe that the norm is to be generous.

People are usually fairly predictable; on the average, most people will do what is considered “normal” in society. In this world, generous and spontaneous giving is often considered “different” and thus is a deviation from the norm. But who sets these norms for our communities? Well, we all do by our actions. Thus, if we each live generously like Jesus, the norms of what others will do will change as well. 1 Thessalonians says, “And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.” By our own regularly generous actions we can spur the “idle” to change their own norms. Said another way -- we have the ability to set the tone for those around us. Today, live generously like Jesus believing that your lifestyle will make the world as a whole a better place.

“And we urge you, brothers, admonish the idle, encourage the fainthearted, help the weak, be patient with them all.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:14 ESV

Original Article:

http://bit.ly/3akVZC5