“A man is known by the company he keeps…”
In Brazil there is a popular saying that says “Tell me who you hang out with and I’ll tell you who you are“. My mother always told me this phrase, changing the ending of the original sentence to “…that I say if I will go along“. I brought this sentence today, with either of the two endings, because I want to talk about intentional connections with you.
Be intentional when connecting
“Keep on loving one another as brothers and sisters. Do not forget to show hospitality to strangers, for by so doing some people have shown hospitality to angels without knowing it“
Hebrews 13:1-2
The pun didn’t take away from the fact that she always taught me that we shouldn’t be a respecter of persons. That I should reach out and help, regardless of beliefs, values, or any other circumstance. After all, Jesus rescued everyone.
But she also taught me that I should be intentional in my connections. That I am an average of the people I live with and that can bring me closer or further away from God and what He has for me.
One step changes the whole race
Much of who I am today comes from everything I learned from the people who went through my life and from the places I went, apart from everything I received at home, of course.
In 2019 I decided to try to join a large company, I passed the interview and, inside, outside of drawing up my career plan, I also met people who introduced me to the church I am a part of today, a spiritual family where I met other people who helped me. brought you here now, and today I can write to you, sharing all that God pours out on me.
Through a simple professional decision, which was already something big for my life, I managed to reach places I would never have imagined, aligning my ministry, my work, my studies, everything in the call that God gave me. This is all because they are intentional with me and I with them.
Channels that bring God closer
“I will praise the Lord, who counsels me. Even at night my heart instructs me”
Psalm 16:7
Several times I felt God pushing me away from places, not because He doesn’t love the people in that environment, but because it wasn’t what He dreamed for me. Many times God calls out to these people too, but there is a struggle against God’s voice on their part, or they are not at all sensitive to that voice. I myself was one of those people who struggled for a while.
We must reach out to everyone, God works with unity in diversity. But He creates connections that edify, that transform, that bring us closer to Him. Jesus was that connection to the world. In addition to being that person for others, we must approach people who are also that person for us.
Be encouraged and encourage
“Therefore encourage one another and build each other up, just as in fact you are doing”
1 Thessalonians 5:11
I once heard a phrase that said: “Avoid listening to constructive advice from those who have never built anything“.
It’s okay to cut relationships when we realize that it’s not good for us. We need to be intentional in reaching out to people who encourage us to be better, to grow, to get closer to God and our calling. People who have already achieved what we dreamed of for us or who are building something that we also want to build.
So we can be encouraging of others and encouraged by others.
