Building trusting relationships

Do you have a small team of trusted people to encourage and affirm you?

It is essential to be part of a small accountability team that speaks well of you and provides encouragement. We all need assurance from those who know us well. If all of your affirmation comes from people who don’t really know you, it is probably only superficial.

When I began to serve a particular sport, I became friends with a highly respected athlete. He asked me to encourage and disciple him during the last seven years of his professional career. In turn, I asked him to walk beside me as I served a new sport. Over the years, we learned to ask one another tough and essential questions because we cared. For decades we have continued to speak well of one another and give one another credibility and affirmation.

Even recently, my friend wrote,

“The Lord has used you in a magnificent way – never really to the public but creating a very sustainable ministry. Only a few of your friends probably realize how it all happened. Your impact has made a huge positive difference in so many people’s lives.”

All of us need meaningful affirmation from those close to us. As you grow older try to find two or three wise and mature friends who will support you, challenge you, and speak well of you at every opportunity.

The New Testament is a book of trusting relationships. There are plenty of conflicts, but more importantly, there are many examples of believers who have built relationships of trust. Some relationships came about from two-by-two mission trips while others were borne out of church planting.

Scripture to ponder –1 Thessalonians 5:11

Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing.

Key Lesson: Find two or three trusted people to support, challenge, and affirm you over your lifetime.