Giving Myself the Glory
This is Day 7 of my 40 day Lenten Blog.
"Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness." Psalm 115:1.
"In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven." Matthew 5:16.
"Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel, who alone does wondrous things." Psalm 72:18
What do I do that is worth anything? My life is but a fleeting moment. All of my accomplishments outside of Christ are dung. And all of my accomplishments in Christ are merited by Him, not me.
I deserve no glory because there is nothing good that I do without Christ doing it through me. The only things I am able to do on my own are evil, even if they are things the world sees as wonderful.
Yet, I often take glory for myself. I take glory for things that merit no glory. And I take glory for things that do merit glory, but the glory should be given to God.
That is the way of the world, not the way of heaven. In the world we take as much glory as we can. It is our pride, like the pride of the devil who also wanted glory. But we are not of this world. We are simply pilgrims. Thus, we should not act like the world, but must be heavenly. In heaven God always receives the glory. In heaven God is worshipped day and night.
The sin of vain glory is one that infects our world. And it is a sin Christians too often do not do enough to eradicate even in our own hearts. It's easy not to murder, or steal, or commit adultery. It's much more difficult not to seek glory for myself--especially when the world puts such a high value on it.
But all glory belongs to God, and when I take it for myself I am essentially stealing what is rightfully His. It would be like taking credit for work someone else did. And while I would never dream of taking credit for work other people did, I do it all the time with God.
R.C. VanLandingham is the author of the Peter Puckett series, a Christian children's fantasy that explores what it means to know and love Christ through exciting adventures.His books and blog can be found at rcvanlandingham.com.