Love Has a Name

This will be a 2-part post about pride. It is a big topic and I am pumped to share this! Most of today will be obvious or clear for most people, the next one will be pretty deep! Enjoy!

Pride is often thought as the “mother” of all sins and many theologians will agree that this is the root of all other sin. I would tend to agree because the definition of pride is simply put, “deep pleasure or satisfaction from one’s own achievements.”

I am deeply believer that pride is the fastest way to put out the fire of God. Also it is the quickest way to lose our way. And even though it happens quickly, we typically won’t notice our pride until we are confronted with challenges we can’t overcome (because we aren’t as powerful as we feel) or when someone calls us out or questions us on something in our life.

Here’s a story and an example.

“A young God-fearing man goes about life and giving the Lord all his heart, soul, mind and strength. Suddenly one day someone comes to this man and says, “wow, you really are good at sharing the Word of God. You’re so eloquent and your words touch everyone you talk to! It’s inspiring, I want to be just like you!”

This man now has 2 choices. He can accept the praise of this person and be thankful, or, he can accept the praise and re-direct it to glorify God, Jesus and the skills and gifts that were freely given to him by the Father.

One will lead to prideful actions and disgrace while the other leads to humility and life of being humble.

Proverbs 11:2 “When pride comes, then comes disgrace, but with humility comes wisdom.”

So the question becomes, can I never accept people’s praise and kindness toward me? Can I never be proud of my accomplishments?

Well of course you can! Be proud! Be excited! Be joyful! Just be grateful and direct the praise, glory and honour to the One who makes it possible and gives everything to you.

To expand on this let’s ask, are we accepting the praise and glory of others in order to exalt ourselves, or, are we accepting the praise and glory in order to ultimately glorify Jesus? The Creator in all His wisdom has given us gifts and we use them for His purposes, not our own. Therefore, when the world sees us as wise, powerful and amazing people they are in effect bearing witness to the power and beauty of Jesus Christ, not ourself.

Our choice to accept the glory for ourselves will immediately direct honour and glory AWAY from Jesus!

In writing this next example I want to make sure that I am writing it not to be known or glorified but as a relevant demonstration of this last point and how we can practically approach a situation when the world lavishes us with praise.

Around 6 months ago I was leading a time of prayer for a group of approximately 20 people. Some were young, some were old. Some were deep and mature believers of Jesus and others were still journeying and discovering Him. We started with a time of group prayer, everyone together. Slowly we moved into smaller groups.

Started with men and women. Then groups of 3 or 4 and then individual sharing and prayer.

This was in a foreign country and with a group of people with whom I have never led a prayer session for before. In fact prayer was not a major part of their daily faith. So I was not sure how it would go but I trusted that the Spirit would move and I prayed to myself that He would be glorified and made known through this moment.

During the hour or so of prayer, there was laughter, silence and tears. It was so obvious that Jesus Himself was moving through the room and touching people’s lives, including my own.

After the time of prayer was done I received comments and affirmation that I was a good leader, had powerful words and was able to make an impact on people.

During that time of receiving praise I had 2 choices. Accept their praise and build myself up or accept their praise and acknowledge the Giver of my gifts of leadership and prayer.

After all the words weren’t my words and the Spirit wasn’t my spirit.

I chose the latter. My words were something like, “wow thank you so much! Ya God is good He is the true leader and I’m honoured to have been able to share His Word and be with you all while His spirit moved.”

See what I did there? I happily accepted their kindness and felt the honour of having been a part of their journey with Jesus. However, it was not me who did the work. I simply obeyed and glorified the Lord by using the gifts He gave to me to do the work He asked of me in that moment.

Here is what it would sound like if I accepted the praise into my heart.

“Hey man that was a great time of prayer. Thanks for leading it!”

“Oh you’re welcome, I am a really good leader and very influential aren’t I?!”

This second conversation just sounds… off… doesn’t it? It’s arrogant and prideful and totally diminished God’s power and how He moved through that room.

God gives us gifts and words and His Spirit in order to be an influence and in order to change people’s lives. Yet we must remain humble and remember WHY it is we can do what we do.

I am but a vessel for the Lord to use according to His will and for His purposes because after all, I am His creation and not my own.