My best friend Judy is amazing. One of the things that I love about her is that she breathes encouragement. Affirmation oozes out of her pores and you always leave her presence feeling loved. She doesn’t even try at this. She’s a natural. This is also the friend that knows the most of my junk. She knows my weaknesses and my struggles. She has seen me ugly cry more times than I can count. She has given me advice I didn’t pay attention to and seen me get hurt. And if I had to stop to think about it, I would say I have given her more reasons not to love me more than anyone else, simply because I haven’t hidden or kept away the broken parts of myself from our relationship. Yet, love me she does, and fiercely. Her love and friendship has been a HUGE force in helping me get through the difficult patches of life and walking out my God given identity.
Everyone needs a Judy. It struck me today how important it is that we celebrate one another along the journey. We don’t celebrate one another because we are without flaws. We don’t celebrate each other because we never get it wrong. We don’t celebrate one another because we are always 100% amazing. We celebrate each other because life in God’s Kingdom is about recognizing the gold in one another. It’s about recognizing the greatness God has placed in those around us. It’s about choosing to focus on what God is doing in a person’s life, instead of focusing on all the areas where we and others have missed the mark. We get more of what we focus on…so why not focus on the good in each other?
This week, Kanye was big in the news. He has released an album entitled “Jesus is King,” and professed to be a follower of Jesus. Amazing! I have heard mixed feelings about this. While many are excited, a lot of people are skeptical. “I’ll believe it when I see it.” “He can’t really be serious. Look at his track record.” “Other celebrities have claimed to be Christians too and look at them.” Although it is easy to look at a person’s flaws and hold out skepticism, I am a firm believer that we should celebrate every step a person makes towards God. Also, people need to be able to fall and make mistakes. Kanye and every other believer will make mistakes, will mess it up and will get it wrong. That should not be an opportunity for an “I told you so.” We are to look at those around us with the eyes of Christ. We should be a cheering section for our brothers and sisters in the Lord encouraging them to keep going and to never give up, even when they encounter weakness. The last thing we want is to bring shame and condemnation and make people feel like they never should have tried.
We want the world to see us celebrating one another, not tearing each other down. Let’s choose to see the gold in one another and to help those around us to see the gold in themselves. Let’s make a big deal when people draw towards God and lift them up when they fall down. Let’s be like the Father who leaves the 99 to go after the one and then throws a party, when the one is found.
Discover creative ways to encourage others and to motivate them toward acts of compassion, doing beautiful works as expressions of love. (Heb. 10:24)
