Encouragement and Everlasting Faithfulness

A dear friend of mine, Noah, was being his absolutely normal self which is: encouraging, and wanted to share words from God to me.

He said:

“You are amazing Bee and God is so well pleased with you! I just feel like every time He looks at you, His heart is so much in love, its like the sunset that you described! But a million times better!”

As my friend referenced scripture in his genuine and hearty encouragement I was so delighted. I happen to really love this particular scripture, it is so tell-tale of God's character and how salvation functions and His unconditional love for us. 

Sidenote: God's love is UNCONDITIONAL (unaffected by our offenses) because He actually never expected, nor requires, our love back. That's so cool! 

SO Jesus spent THIRTY YEARS of his life before actually doing ministry stuff. And at the point of this heavenly eruption, He hadn't yet done a single miracle or utilized His gifting as being God in the flesh. WHAT? So God says, I am soooooooo perfectly happy with who you are...yet He hadn't done anything to EARN such affection. YOU DON'T HAVE TO DO ANYTHING FOR GOD TO LOVE YOU EITHER. Your choice to believe in God, to change yours ways from more worldly to more Godly, these things are like a bonus (and result in salvation, the choice part).

I sat down to read the Bible this morning and I have this cool translation (Common English Bible; CEB) of Luke on my desktop. So I'm reading through and all of a sudden I read the scripture about Jesus' baptism and God's words that descend from Heaven and BOOM I am just so tickled because God used my friend Noah to tell me those words yesterday.

God is so faithful to our hearts, He is so clever to connect his unchanging and perpetual love for me from yesterday to something in today. And, I didn't do a thing to earn it. He just is, he just does, he just loves. These little things just add up so cool-ly. What if God does these 'coincidental' things just to remind us that everything makes sense and that He's with us from yesterday until today?

Encouragement is the easiest, quickest, cheapest (free), and most genuine way to promote community, acceptance, affirmation, confidence, revelation of character...Obviously I am a big fan of ENCOURAGEMENT. And, I don't really mean the simple kind of “compliment someone today” or “smile at someone today” because I find those to be normal for me and also, a pretty common human thing. You have the ability within you to dig deep and affirm someone's character which will build them up in worth and dignity that is not of this world, but of God's deep deep deep love for His very own creation. (Which is you! And your mother and your brother, and the sunsets and the wind...)

For believers to other believers, scripture is the coolest kind of encouragement! My friend Noah who I quoted above was using a reference found in the Gospels from Jesus' baptism by John. After John baptized Jesus the heavens opened up and God Almighty Himself spoke so that all could hear! He said, “You are my beloved Son, I take delight in You!” (HCSB Luke 3:22). Other translations say for the second half, 'in whom I am well pleased.'

For those not yet saved by mercy and grace, either as the givers or receivers of such deep encouragement, you can still dig deeper in your daily complimentary lifestyles. Ponder for just a second what someone is doing, what they are working towards or who they are trying to be (a parent, a graduate, a public servant...) and think, 'If I were aiming for _____, I would feel so motivated if someone said/noticed ________.'

God is real, He is everything He says He is and is nothing like the critics of this world that condemn Christianity for its mistakes-those are human, not Holy. 

LOVE!