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affirm others puts us in the practice of looking at them positively—that is, looking for evidence of God’s work in them.Affirmation changes us before it changes them.It
8.Behaviors that are rewarded and celebrated are more likely to be repeated.
9.When we commend God’s image in people,God is glorified, and that’s why we were made—to glorify God.
God gets the honor when we affirm his qualities we esteem, and we get the satisfaction of esteeming and enjoying
those qualities, and pointing them out.
When we affirm God’s character in people around us, not only are we talking about character, we are actually exemplifying one aspect of God’s character. Blessing others reflects the image of the Christian’s Father. I...
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geese honk encouragement and fly in formation. Skunks travel alone.
God ordains the means to the end (reading it). God appoints effects, and he also appoints the causes that bring about those effects.
God is bringing about ends through means.
neck.The pain of relationships impedes and destroys even the desire to affirm, much less the active practice of affirming. A
“But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called ‘today,’ that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin” (Heb. 3:13).
“A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in a setting of silver” (Prov. 25:11).
“Pay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.” (Rom. 13:7)
“Finally, brothers, whatever is true, whatever is honorable, whatever is just, whatever is pure, whatever is lovely, whatever is commendable, if
there is any excellence, if there is anything worthy of praise, think
about these things.” (...
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give honor to whom honor is owed (regardless of whether or not the person is a believer).
if there is anything worthy of praise, think on it, take note of it as praiseworthy, and (implicitly stated) act on that observation: that is, give praise.
Affirming others is not optional. Jesus said,
“As you did not do it to one of the least of these, you did not do it to me” (Matt. 25:41).
We make idols when we praise what God has made more than we praise God, or praise those things without regard to God. But we glorify God when we praise what he made by commending how it reflects and testifies of him.
“look what the Creator has wrought!”
Hero worship means admiring someone for unholy reasons and seeing all he does as admirable (whether it’s sin or not).
Holy emulation, on the other hand, sees evidence of God’s grace, and admires them for Christ’s sake, and wants to learn from them and grow in them.”1
our prayers for an individual might be infinitely more important for him than our affirmations; in fact, we might never meet the person or give him one single affirmation.
the praise of character observed in people recognizes the external grace of God at work in them.
“Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter!” (Isa. 5:20).
not.“For what credit is it if,when you sin and are beaten for it, you endure? But if when you do good and suffer for it you endure, this is a gracious thing in the sight of God” (1 Pet. 2:20). But it’s better to be hated while affirming than hated for not affirming. Peter gives his readers a double commendation: (1) for doing good and (2) for enduring when they suffer for doing good (another Christlike character quality).
He who wins souls is wise.Winsomeness is a Christian virtue.Christians
“Bless those who persecute you; bless and do not curse them” (Rom. 12:14).
Hebrews 3:12–14: Take care, brothers, lest there be in any of you an evil, unbelieving heart, leading you to fall away from the living God. But exhort one another every day, as long as it is called “today,” that none of you may be hardened by the deceitfulness of sin. For we have come to share in Christ, if indeed we hold our original confidence firm to the end.
A lying tongue hates its victims, and a flattering mouth works ruin. (Prov. 26:28) A man who flatters his neighbor spreads a net for his feet. (Prov. 29:5)
recipient.A good affirmer,just as the giver of a cup of cold water, looks to God for his reward.
affirm people behind their backs!
The atmosphere of a home, workplace, school, or church is uplifted by affirmations not only made directly to people, but affirmations of persons not immediately present.
“If you want your children to improve, let them overhear the nice things you say about them to others.”9
let God be your reward for doing your good deeds “secretly.”Third,
about Paul, the Lord says,“Go! This man is my chosen instrument ...” (Acts 9:15).
“And God is able to make all grace abound to you, so that having all sufficiency in all things at all times, you may abound in every good work” (2 Cor. 9:8).
If we asked the people you are trying to affirm, what would they say? Do they generally get refreshment from
being around you? Would they say you are practicing affirmation as a predominant pattern in your relationship with them? How long have you been at it? You may have first dug a very large hole, overspent your account, or picked a scab that needs more time and more healing salve. Have you put an artificial deadline on God to act? Are you doing it only if “it works,” meaning that people shape up? Rather, affirm because it’s right, looking to God to be your reward.
Like the key to your house, affirmation is key to relationships.
Be loving, even when others don’t reciprocate.
God-centeredness is the key.
“No one after lighting a lamp puts it in a cellar or under a basket, but on a stand, so that those who enter may see the light” (Luke 11:33).
when you see evidence of God’s work in a life, help others see it, too. In
this:“In the same way [as on a lampstand], let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven” (Matt. 5:16).
You shine light, and others
get the benefit of that light.
lamp—you see the glory of God in his workmanship, and when you point out his work, others see it too, joining in the giving of glory. When we point out the work of God in the lives of others, he gets glory, others start seeing what they...
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