October is Pastor Appreciation month, it was also the 50th anniversary of our church, and it was also my birthday so October was a good month. I got a couple of dozen very nice notes and letters from different people at JBC, and it was very encouraging to receive them and I read them all over a number of times.

Everybody enjoys being praised and affirmed for what they have done and how they have blessed the lives of others. I believe that God will communicate His pleasure in us through people that we have influenced. The trick is to keep my motives focused on pleasing the Lord rather than people even though they are being used as God’s mouth pieces. When I hear people praise and affirm my teaching or ministry or read notes and letters saying very nice things about me I say to myself, “thank You Lord for affirming my service to You, thank You! “

When Jesus came up out of the water after He was baptized God the Father spoke from heaven and said, “this is My beloved Son in whom I am well pleased.” God does that, He communicates His pleasure in us, but He does it through people so it is important for each of us to see the source of the praise so we we don’t trapped into working to please people instead of God, it is easy to do.

Our motives for what we do and why we do it are very important because God knows what our motives are and He energizes us, guides us, and blesses what we do when our motives are pure. Our heart is tricky and easily self-deceived so we need to examine our heart and our motives often so that we don’t mess up our lives and God’s church.