observantwriter asked: when are you going to start posting things again?
So sorry I disappeared! I’m back. Trying for one writing a day.
-jb
I love receiving affirmation.
At work tonight I was moseying through the office hallway when my boss looked out her door and simply said “Joel! You’re excellent.” She makes a habit of offering such kind words up for her peers. When I heard it I of course thanked her and reciprocated, not in an obligatory manner, but because I truly thought her excellent. It dawned on me a few moments afterward, that I love receiving words of affirmation, and as well I love to speak them. I truly enjoy speaking life into others and and likewise having life spoken in to me. Later in the same shift, she and I had a misunderstanding and I got pulled off stage and ‘reprimanded’. I wasn’t in trouble per se, and I hadn’t committed a wrongdoing. There was simply a communication breakdown between the two of us. I felt upset and done wrong by, because she implied that I had done something incorrectly. I complained about it to three different people. She was just doing her job.
Reflecting on my day with God tonight, I came to the realization that I’ve been looking for affirmation from people more than affirmation from God. God will never reprimand me for asking for direction. God will speak life into me that lasts forever and has divine meaning. He says the same words to me that I heard tonight from my supervisor. “Joel! You’re excellent.” He whispers them in the dark stillness of the night, and he proclaims them to me in his full glory in the middle of the day.
When you feel unworthy, or you desire a pat on the back, turn to God for it. It’s more fulfilling and it’s a useful, meaningful pursuit.
Let God tell you you’re excellent this week.
-jb
I save, heal, preserve, rescue. It literally means to save. It is the root word of the Greek words sótér: savior, sótéria: salvation, and sótérios (or sótérion) which both mean: salvation, with the emphasis of the application of God’s salvation.
-jb
(via kathrynelisabeth)
-jb
σῴζω (Sózó)
sṓzō (from sōs, “safe, rescued”) – properly, deliver out of danger and into safety; used principally of God rescuing believers from the penalty and power of sin – and into His provisions (safety).
-jb
