Proverbs 29:23 Pride brings a person low, but the lowly in spirit gain honor.  

“You should write a book”, “Those blogs you write are so good”, “I never knew you were such a good writer” are all examples of compliments I receive when posting a new blog. I’ve always found it hard to receive compliments, not quite sure what to do with them, other than saying thank you. Most of the time that is my intention, just to say, “thank you”. However, it’s rarely left at thank you; more times than not, I feel good when I receive such a compliment and my ego begins to inflate. Before long, I start to believe that I am a great writer, and I may impart some Godly wisdom upon you. There are other times when I receive a compliment and I give it right back to God, as I should. The truth is, I’m not a writer at all, ask any one of my dozen or so English teachers and they will tell you I write incomplete or run on sentences, I don’t use enough commas and more times than not I’m mixing present and past tenses in almost every sentence. Even as I type this blog, looking over at Microsoft’s built in grammar editor, it’s giving my writing skills a score of 67%, paltry, if you ask me. Regardless of liking or disliking my writing style or the content therewithin, compliments received for the finished product have, over months, inflated my ego, and will likely continue doing so. How does a person remain humble while receiving accolades?  

Compliments, when kept for keeps, can easily build up a false sense of self and lead us to operate from a position of pride. When it comes to writing, I must remind myself at this juncture I’ve only been doing it for six months. Before Christ came into my life, I could hardly string together five coherent sentences. During Covid, I tried writing about politics and global control without success. I tried almost 15 years ago to write a book about my life and stopped before I could finish the introduction chapters. I’ve started and stopped writing more times than I can count. The only difference between then and now is having God in my heart. What has God given me? Purpose. A purpose stronger than I’ve ever known before. A calling, which for me, is more powerful than making money. Like the sun, my passion is fueled by God and is eternal and undying.  

This brings me to intentionality. There are two reasons I could continue writing; to increase internal receipt of compliments or to fulfill the Great Commission as laid out in Matthew 28:18-20: ‘Then Jesus came to them and said, “All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Therefore, go and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, and teaching them to obey everything I have commanded you. And surely I am with you always, to the very end of the age.” Let me be clear, writing about Jesus, the Bible, sanctification and opening my soul to the world on paper isn’t something I’d inherently do, I have a reputation to maintain after all. All jokes aside, none of the blogs I publish would be possible without Jesus, He’s the one directing the pen, not me. We are called to glorify God in all that we do and even though I may be the one banging on the keyboard, He’s the one choosing the topics, the words and any righteousness that may be found within. My writing is from His fruit and wouldn’t exist without Him. With sincere humility, thank you to all my readers for taking the time to read His blog. Be sure to leave me out of it, all honor and glory go to God, His Son and the Holy Spirit. I pray that I remain humble, that Jesus continues using me as His vessel to write blogs, that His Light extinguishes any darkness attempting to enter my home, and that He continues to fuel my passion, all in the name of Jesus. Amen.