Recently, I received some compliments and in my usual fashion, I quickly countered them and explained how that is nothing like me. Some people interpreted it as humility, but it really wasn’t. I simply was not seeing what they were seeing in me.

And I am certain that God,
who began the good work within you,
will continue His work until it is finally finished
on the day when Christ Jesus returns

Philippians 1:6 (NLT)

While sitting at home one day, I felt convicted about this. I remembered a time I made a list of traits and behaviours I desired to see in myself. I would pray about these things and repeat them to myself everyday. By rejecting these compliments, I was almost countering these prayers. I just imagined how God would feel about that so I asked God to forgive me for that. You see, I had an image in my head when I was praying about these things and I am nowhere close to that, but I didn’t realize that I had made progress.

So all of us who have had that veil removed
can see and reflect the glory of the Lord.
And the Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more
like Him
as we are changed into His glorious image

2 Corinthians 3:18 (NLT)

Here is what I want to do moving forward:

• Thank God
• Thank the person for their kind words
• Tell them of God’s transformative power and how it is evidenced by their recent testimony
• Share how I’ve prayed about these things (and still continue to do so) and even though I may not be at my desired goal, I’m not where I started
• If there’s time, tell them of other areas God has changed me

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Looking at your life now, can you identify some areas of growth?

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