Giving Your Recommendation

I didn’t know who, but there was someone out there who had put my name forward.

Romans 16:1-27

Reference: v.6 Greet Mary, who worked very hard for you. (TNIV Bible)

Explore: A few years ago I received a letter in the mail.  It was from a Christian leadership training organization, that I had never heard of before, inviting me to apply for the Arrow Leadership Australia course.  You could not put your own name forward for this course, but had to be recommended by other people.  As I researched this course I became incredibly excited about how this could really assist me to grow and develop in my church leadership.  I then realized that someone must have put my name forward.  I didn’t know who, but there was someone out there who felt I had the potential to be a great leader, and they wanted me to continue to develop those skills.  I didn’t know who it was, but I was so encouraged that someone would see the potential in me and submit my name.

Application: The recommendations we can give about others can certainly hold some weight.  People will base their first impressions on what they may have previously heard of someone.  Our recommendations can have an impact on whether someone is immediately accepted or not.  In the days of the early church there would have been a great deal of skepticism going around.  People were being killed for aligning themselves with Jesus, so you had to be wary of whom you trusted.  At the end of Paul’s letter to those in Rome he finishes by giving a whole list of recommendations of people who had assisted him in ministry and that he had seen as faithful to Christ.  His words would certainly have held weight in that community.  And by his positive recommendation, he was opening the way to positive unions to further the gospel.  When we are speaking about other people we, too, need to be so conscious of what we say and how we can be opening doors for others.

Prayer: Lord, words are so powerful.  Help us to bring life and open doors through our words rather than slamming people down.  Amen.

Is there someone in your life who you could recommend to others?

leadership, recommendation, Romans, words