At times we don’t think we deserve encouragement, as if they’re encouraging some ‘fake version’ of ourselves that wouldn’t stand up to scrutiny. We downplay it not out of humility, but out of a secret sense of shame. ‘Well if they really knew me,’ we say, ‘then they would run.’ Or, ‘I need to catch up to these compliments.’ But you know: God knows you better than you know you, and He still loves that mess. He still encourages you. He sends people to brag on you; not some future version of you but you right now, because He can see what you cannot. Don’t twist that into pride or despair. Let it be part of who you’re becoming; no less, no more.
Originally posted here.
J.S. Park: Hospital Chaplain, Skeptical Christian 