It Wasn't Me
I remember going to a concert and after it was over, finding myself within earshot of the performer. There was a little group around him complimenting him for a job well done. He was a Christian, as was obvious from his songs, and in reply to these praises he said, “It wasn’t me, it was the Lord.” I know what he meant, I think (my mind-reading skills are pretty good) but it gave me a funny feeling. The kind of feeling that is only relieved when you turn your head and look away – That embarrassed feeling for him after hearing something fairly trite and cliché. It couldn’t have been the Lord. He can sing and write songs much better.
I don’t want to be too hard on the guy. He wanted to divert some of the attention away from him, because sometimes the spotlight is just a little too bright. There must be some kind of defense mechanism in us that, as proud as we are, gives us a shot of humility to counter our crazy egos. Angels seem to have it too. The one John saw didn’t let him worship him, even though he tried twice. Even more incredible is the fact that Jesus himself avoided worship at times during his earthly ministry.
The scene is in Capernaum. Jesus had healed many and cast out many demons. But it was early morning, while everyone else was sleeping, when Jesus got up and went to find a solitary place to pray. Mark says it was “a long while before daylight”. Maybe hours before. But the disciples eventually wake up and go to find him. When they do they tell him, “Everyone is looking for you.” It’s like they are saying, “The masses have arrived! They want to bask in your greatness! They want to crowd around you so they can tell their friends how close they got to you!” But Jesus simply tells them that he must go onto to the next town and preach there as well. He tells them that it is his purpose to preach. In other words, he is telling them that his purpose was not to be a kind of 8th wonder of the world – to be some spectacle for the masses before they go on to the next one… His purpose is to warn people about their great need for sins forgiven and to tell them to have faith in Him. He avoided the fleeting kind of worship we are prone to, so that in the end he will receive the true everlasting variety.
God is praised best when he is found doing something that only he can do. He healed a man who was lame from birth simply because Peter and John were nearby. When the people came to stare in amazement at them, they said “why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?” They were honestly saying that they didn’t do it. That’s different than doing something from our own power and saying it was God’s. I think the Lord is given the credit for doing many things that are actually contrary to his will – as astounding as the events may sound! When Jesus avoided the crowds it was not some kind of false-humility. He had been up praying. He had been receiving the Father’s will for hours before daylight. Sometimes he was praised, and sometimes not, but he was about his Father’s business either way. May the same be said of us.
The next time somebody compliments you, simply say “thank-you.” If somebody doesn’t praise you when you think you might have it coming, be thankful then too.
BJ
I don’t want to be too hard on the guy. He wanted to divert some of the attention away from him, because sometimes the spotlight is just a little too bright. There must be some kind of defense mechanism in us that, as proud as we are, gives us a shot of humility to counter our crazy egos. Angels seem to have it too. The one John saw didn’t let him worship him, even though he tried twice. Even more incredible is the fact that Jesus himself avoided worship at times during his earthly ministry.
The scene is in Capernaum. Jesus had healed many and cast out many demons. But it was early morning, while everyone else was sleeping, when Jesus got up and went to find a solitary place to pray. Mark says it was “a long while before daylight”. Maybe hours before. But the disciples eventually wake up and go to find him. When they do they tell him, “Everyone is looking for you.” It’s like they are saying, “The masses have arrived! They want to bask in your greatness! They want to crowd around you so they can tell their friends how close they got to you!” But Jesus simply tells them that he must go onto to the next town and preach there as well. He tells them that it is his purpose to preach. In other words, he is telling them that his purpose was not to be a kind of 8th wonder of the world – to be some spectacle for the masses before they go on to the next one… His purpose is to warn people about their great need for sins forgiven and to tell them to have faith in Him. He avoided the fleeting kind of worship we are prone to, so that in the end he will receive the true everlasting variety.
God is praised best when he is found doing something that only he can do. He healed a man who was lame from birth simply because Peter and John were nearby. When the people came to stare in amazement at them, they said “why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?” They were honestly saying that they didn’t do it. That’s different than doing something from our own power and saying it was God’s. I think the Lord is given the credit for doing many things that are actually contrary to his will – as astounding as the events may sound! When Jesus avoided the crowds it was not some kind of false-humility. He had been up praying. He had been receiving the Father’s will for hours before daylight. Sometimes he was praised, and sometimes not, but he was about his Father’s business either way. May the same be said of us.
The next time somebody compliments you, simply say “thank-you.” If somebody doesn’t praise you when you think you might have it coming, be thankful then too.
BJ
posted by BJ at 12:40 p.m.
1 Comments:
Real good post Beej!
I've always struggled with that whole receiving praise thing too. I have long stopped saying stuff like "It was all God" because I agree that it has an undercurrent of arrogance - placing my "performance" or words on par with the Lord's as though the two could be mistaken.
But I think their is also a positive side to the statement, where we let others know that we're sin-cursed lumps of mud and dead without God. So anything Good that comes from our lips/hands/whatever found their source in Him. So maybe another way to respond to being praised is to acknowlege I could say nothing worth listening to without the work of the Lord...or just "thank you"...that's good too ;)
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