by: John Park, March 3rd, 2011
Here’s a helpful article by Andy Naselli on how to receive compliments well.
- Thank the person for taking the time to encourage you. I don’t have to evaluate the accuracy of their encouragement. All I know is that they made a point to express gratefulness when they didn’t have to say anything.
- If the compliment is vague, ask for clarification. We’re not fishing for more praise; it’s just that it helps to know how God specifically worked in a person’s heart. You might respond, “Thanks so much! So what is it about the meeting that encouraged you?” If someone isn’t really sure what they liked, or if their second answer is just as vague (“It was just cool”), I usually say, “Great!” Not every interaction needs to be profound.
- Express gratefulness for the opportunity to serve. My most common response to encouragement is, “It’s a privilege and a joy.” Because it is. God is giving me grace to follow the example of Paul who said, “For what we proclaim is not ourselves, but Jesus Christ as Lord, with ourselves as your servants for Jesus’ sake” (2 Corinthians 4:5). More importantly, we’re declaring our allegiance to the Savior who came not to be served but to serve (Mark 10:45).
- Draw attention to the contributions of others. Most of the time when people encourage me, they’re unaware of the parts others played. I can increase their awareness. “I’m just grateful to be on this team; these guys practice so hard.” One of the best ways to turn awkwardness into gratefulness is to remember how God has used others in my life. And when I’m actively looking for evidences of grace in other people, I have less time to think about myself.
- Internally and intentionally “transfer the glory to God.” That’s a phrase I first learned from C. J. Mahaney, who was quoting the Puritan pastor Thomas Watson. It means acknowledging that any benefit or fruit is because of his grace, and therefore all the glory is completely and rightfully his. It’s not mine. So at some point after the meeting, possibly when you’re driving home, it’s wise to specifically give thanks to God and give him glory for all that you’ve received encouragement for.
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by: John Park, January 29th, 2011
It appears that within the blogosphere, there has been a lot of discussion on the topic of “waiting for God” recently. I really don’t know why that might be the case, but by God’s grace, it has been a real source of help and encouragement for me.
Here’s another one by Mark Altrogge, blogger and pastor of a Sovereign Grace Church in Pennsylvania, in which he lists several reasons why it’s good to wait on God. Here’s a list of them:
Waiting helps us realize that we are dependent creatures. We’re not the captain of our souls or in charge of our own destiny. We’re not self-sufficient, but we live by every mercy dispensed from God’s hand.
- He teaches us to seek him
Waiting on God is not passive. As we wait, we seek. We pray, we beseech God. We cry out “How long, O Lord?” We ask, and knock and submit our requests to God. If we got what we wanted right away, we wouldn’t draw near to God and we’d miss out on the joy of his presence.
- He teaches us to trust him
While we’re waiting for God to save our child or meet our needs we stretch our faith to the limit. We trust, though all our circumstances tell us to despair. As we wait, our trust grows.
- He builds patience and perseverance into us
The only way to get patience is to have to wait for something. Perseverance only comes through enduring trials, failures and persecution.
- He reveals what is in our hearts
What comes out of your heart when you don’t get what you want? Grumbling? Hard thoughts of God? Or praise and trust? When you can wait with a quiet heart, you know God has done a work in you.
- He helps us to treasure him above the things we are waiting for
He teaches us to find our contentment in him. He is our portion, not anything in this world. Only Jesus can truly satisfy us. No person or thing that we wait for can satisfy us like Christ.
- He makes mercy sweeter when it finally arrives
We appreciate blessings more when we’ve prayed and trusted and waited for them. We appreciate health more after sickness. And how much more will we enjoy our eternal weight of glory after our temporary, light afflictions.
Click here to read the whole post.
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by: John Park, January 26th, 2011
Paul Tripp, in this article on Desiring God, provides helpful insight on what we, as believers, are to do (or more precisely, what not to do) when we go through times in which God seems distant.
It’s so easy to question your belief system when you are not sure what God is doing. It’s so easy to give way to doubt when you are being called to wait. It’s so easy to forsake good habits and to take up habits of unfaith that weaken the muscles of the heart. Let me suggest some habits of unfaith that cause waiting to be a time of increasing weakness rather than of building strength. These are bad habits that all of us are tempted to give way to.
Tripp then described a few of these “bad habits”:
Giving way to doubt.
Giving way to anger.
Giving way to discouragement.
Giving way to envy.
Giving way to inactivity.
Click here to read the descriptions of each and what to do about them.
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by: John Park, January 19th, 2011
Quote from God in the Dark: The Assurance of Faith Beyond a Shadow of Doubt. 
Available here at Amazon.com.
… a conviction is nothing if it is not our own. Other things play their part in helping us to understand, but nothing can take its place. Unless each of us wrestles with the truth for ourselves, we will end up with opinions rather than convictions. Pascal warned that “hearsay is so far from being a criterion of belief that you should not belief anything until you have put yourself into the same state as if you had never heard it.” No conviction is truly our own unless we are prepared to hold it even if the rest of the world is against it. Athanasius contra mundum (against the world) is a stance we would not wish for ourselves but a stance that is implied in faith (p. 103).
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