Skip to main content

I am Cheering for You

                When a child draws a picture, you say, “Wow! That is beautiful!” even when you have no idea what they drew.

                School plays are painful.  Most of the time the kids mumble into the microphone, or they forget their lines altogether.  Half of the performers are distracted and are not where they ought to be.  At the end, they sing some song really off-key.  What do you do?  You give them a standing ovation.

                I used to coach hockey.  No matter how many times we told them to spread out, seven-year-olds play hockey in a group.  When the puck is in the corner, so are all the players.  Half of them have fallen down and when one finally gets a chance to take a shot, she misses the puck and almost falls over too.  After the game, everyone talks as if that was the most exciting thing they had ever seen.

                We do these things for one reason: love cheers for people!

                That is until we become adults.  Then, for some reason, we stop cheering for one another and start competing.  We become jealous of what others have or what they get to do.  We act as if it somehow hurts me if you do well.

                The truth is, though, I have the same life whether you do well or not.  Life is not a pie.  I do not get less if you get more.   Your success or failure has very little to do with me, so why would I not cheer for you to do well?

                Paul cheers for the Colossian church when he writes, “We always thank God, the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, when we pray for you, because we have heard of your faith in Christ Jesus and of the love you have for all God’s people” (Colossians 1:3-4).  We are told that the angels in heaven cheer and celebrate when people are saved (Luke 15:10). The father in the story of the prodigal, or lost, son says, “We had to celebrate and be glad, because this brother of yours was dead and is alive again; he was lost and is found” (Luke 15:32).

                God is cheering for you!  He wants the best for you.  He celebrates when you take a step in the right direction (John 3:16-17).

                We never outgrow the need for encouragement.

                Start cheering for one another! 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Dark and Light

            When you look out at the world, what do you see?             Some see nothing but trouble and pain.   They point to things like poverty, crime, problems with drugs and alcohol and marriage break-ups and say that the world is full of sadness and sorrow.   Watch the news for even a half hour and you will get the idea that the world is a dark place.             Others see nothing but good.   They appreciate generous people in their community.   They think about their friends and neighbours and smile.   They marvel at the beauty of sunrises and stars at night.   To them, the world is a bright and wonderful place.             You may be surprised that the Bible supports both of these world views.   On one hand it says things like, “Do not love the world or anything in the world. If anyone loves the world, love for the Father is not in them. For everything in the world—the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life—comes not from the Father but from the
1 comment
Read more

New Article: Five Words to Improve Your Relationships

                 In the late 1800s, it was common for railway companies to plant formal gardens beside their stations.   These gardens were filled with trees, shrubs, flowers, and fruit trees.   Sometimes they also featured a kitchen garden growing lettuce, carrots, corn, and potatoes.   Estevan’s Canadian Pacific Railway Garden was once located where Mid-City Plumbing and Heating is today.                The purpose of these gardens was to show what the land could produce.   After hours and sometimes days of riding across the featureless prairies, the railways wanted to show settlers the potential of their new home.   The gardens showed what was possible and they encouraged the settlers to transform their own land and discover its potential too.                Today’s verse acts similarly, in that it challenges us to find the potential in
Post a Comment
Read more

Forgetting What Is Behind

                   Generalizations are helpful because they show a pattern that is normally true. However, they are also dangerous because they ignore the exceptions to the rule.                  Here is my generalization:   It is a quality of the strong to be able to forget the past and move on.   The apostle Paul summarizes this idea when he states, “One thing I do: Forgetting what is behind and straining toward what is ahead, I press on toward the goal to win the prize for which God had called me heavenward in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13-14). Too often, we trip over things that are behind us.   We remember and nurse old hurts.   We rehearse mistakes that no one else recalls.   In doing so, we pull the past into the present and allow it to dictate how we feel right now.   In these cases, we would be better off “forgett
Post a Comment
Read more