16.07.2013 Views

WHEN YOU CROSS CULTURES - World Evangelical Alliance

WHEN YOU CROSS CULTURES - World Evangelical Alliance

WHEN YOU CROSS CULTURES - World Evangelical Alliance

SHOW MORE
SHOW LESS

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.

SELF ASSESSMENT<br />

161<br />

Closely related to the joy of receiving praise is the expression of one’s<br />

thankfulness. Personally, I have learned precious lessons from my wife<br />

concerning a thankful spirit. She constantly expresses her gratitude in<br />

spontaneous ways. She has taught me the importance of expressing thanks as<br />

well as the receiving of thanks. Thanksgiving should characterise our lives. Verbal<br />

expressions of thanks should be encouraged. Thanksgiving enables a person to<br />

overcome the inner tensions which stress brings.<br />

In an Asian culture, thanksgiving is an important trait. It is often shown<br />

by the giving and receiving of gifts. Asians have polite ways of showing gratitude<br />

that may be misunderstood by others as false humility. All of us need to learn<br />

to receive gratitude and to express gratitude humbly and honestly.<br />

We also need to receive with gratitude the gifts and abilities that God<br />

has blessed us with, and use them for the building up of others. We need to<br />

have a sane estimate of these abilities and develop and use them for God’s<br />

glory.<br />

HANDLING WEAKNESSES AND LIMITATIONS<br />

Our weaknesses and limitations should cause us to lean more<br />

dependently on God and to take strength from His grace each day. Some friends<br />

who attended a seminar were encouraged by this statement - “Please be patient<br />

with me. God is not finished with me yet!”<br />

Like Paul who experienced weaknesses, we need to learn the lessons of<br />

God’s sufficient grace throughout our lives. God’s grace is sufficient to meet<br />

our inadequacies and limitations.<br />

For those with a low self-esteem, the following exercise may be helpful.<br />

It was proposed by Ruth Myers in a seminar on stress.<br />

1. Write down the things which you feel about yourself. Write them down<br />

whether you think they are true or not. For example,<br />

I am not: well-educated<br />

outgoing<br />

comfortable with people ...<br />

or I am: too emotional<br />

too rigid<br />

always dependent on people ...<br />

2. Prayerfully ask God to show you where your view of yourself would have<br />

distorted the facts. God’s grace is also sufficient to meet all your inner needs.

Hooray! Your file is uploaded and ready to be published.

Saved successfully!

Ooh no, something went wrong!