It’s been a while since I blogged. Sorry about that.
I’ve been stewing over something for a little while, and so here it is in blog form.
One of the key themes throughout Scripture is the lack of importance found in man. Jesus repeatedly told people not to seek their own promotion, telling them things like:
“And when you pray, you must not be like the hypocrites. For they love to stand and pray in the synagogues and at the street corners, that they may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you pray, go into your room and shut the door and pray to your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” – Matt. 6:5-6
And again:
“And when you fast, do not look gloomy like the hypocrites, for they disfigure their faces that their fasting may be seen by others. Truly, I say to you, they have received their reward. But when you fast, anoint your head and wash your face, that your fasting may not be seen by others but by your Father who is in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.” – Matt. 6:16-18
Too often, we as Christians spend too much time promoting ourselves. We want people to think we’re ultra holy, super cool, or powerful speakers. In reality, though, none of those things matter in the grand scheme of things. There will never be a person that comes to Christ because of how holy or cool I am. Nobody truly comes to salvation because of how eloquent a speaker is. People only come to Christ because, through the power of the Holy Spirit, they see how glorious God truly is and how insignificant and worthless they are.
How do we combat this attitude? Well, beneath all the instructions that the Bible gives us is one statement found in 1 Corinthians. This statement is at the same time simple and profound, and it speaks to the heart of what every Christian’s absolute aim should be.
“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God”. – 1 Cor. 10:31
There it is. In everything we do, our aim should ALWAYS be to promote the glory of God. This isn’t something that comes naturally, though. Our human nature is to promote ourselves. I find myself wanting to be seen as cool and innovative, and mostly I just fall flat on my face because it’s not about me. We have to make an intentional choice in all of our actions and decisions to glorify God. This means we have to control our impulses, and actually THINK about what it is we’re doing before we do it.
Every single action we take should be preceded by us asking ourselves the question: “Is this for God’s glory or my own?” We must examine our hearts honestly, and always question our motivations. The time has come for the church as a whole to stop pointing fingers and assigning blame, to stop being jealous of the success of others, and to recognize that when we all seek to promote God’s glory rather than our own, His purposes will be served and we have no right to question the way He serves those purposes. The only heart we know the condition of is our own, so let’s be sure that our heart is in the right place before we question the motivations of others.
From this point forward, I pray that the Church would be filled with people who are intentional. That we would all do the things we do on purpose and not that we would do what we want and attempt to justify our actions later.
From today forward, I’m making a commitment to seek God’s glory above all else. Will you join me?
