16th January 2010 - Glory Deflector

I will not give My glory to another. —Isaiah 48:11

Barbara Mertz has a complaint about Egypt’s Pharaoh Ramses II. In her book Temples, Tombs, and Hieroglyphs, archaeologist Mertz writes, “One gets so tired of Ramses; his face, his figure, and/or his name are plastered over half the wall surfaces still standing in Egypt—at least it seems that way.” Insatiably thirsty for glory, Ramses reveled in Egyptian religion, which taught that the pharaoh was divine.

Contrast Ramses’ desire for glory with the attitude of Paul and Barnabas. On one of their missionary journeys, they faced a situation during which they refused to accept vainglory. When a crowd in the idolatrous city of Lystra saw them heal a crippled man, the people exclaimed, “The gods have come down to us in the likeness of men!” (Acts 14:11). They immediately prepared animals to sacrifice in honor of Paul and Barnabas. But the two quickly objected, saying, “We also are men with the same nature as you, and preach to you that you should turn from these useless things to the living God” (v.15).

We do not rival the apostles in our accomplishments for God, but we all have things we do for Him. It’s then that we must be “glory deflectors,” making sure God gets all the glory for everything we have done. —Dennis Fisher

May everything we do—
By word or deed or story—
Be done to please the Lord;
To Him be all the glory. —Roworth

Man’s greatest goal: Bringing glory to God.

Acts 14:8-18 (New International Version)

In Lystra and Derbe

⁸In Lystra there sat a man crippled in his feet, who was lame from birth and had never walked. ⁹He listened to Paul as he was speaking. Paul looked directly at him, saw that he had faith to be healed ¹⁰and called out, "Stand up on your feet!" At that, the man jumped up and began to walk.

¹¹When the crowd saw what Paul had done, they shouted in the Lycaonian language, "The gods have come down to us in human form!" ¹²Barnabas they called Zeus, and Paul they called Hermes because he was the chief speaker. ¹³The priest of Zeus, whose temple was just outside the city, brought bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd wanted to offer sacrifices to them.

¹⁴But when the apostles Barnabas and Paul heard of this, they tore their clothes and rushed out into the crowd, shouting: ¹⁵"Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them. ¹⁶In the past, he let all nations go their own way. ¹⁷Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy." ¹⁸Even with these words, they had difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.

Reflections:

I remember that there was once which I wrote a testimony about "what had God done in my life throughout the year" and sent it to SW last year. He then gave me quite a long, encouraging feedback on MSN regarding it. I thanked him, and I told him that what he said was very encouraging, but he gave me a rather unexpected reply. He said "It wasn't me telling you all these, it was God".

There was another time which I told J that he did a good job by praying during the open prayer at Sunday service, and also by starting it as a student, which then encouraged other students to do so. He replied, "All glory to God. He told me to do so".

Were there times when you feel proud of yourself after you've accomplished something? Or maybe feel happy because people praise you for doing something well? Well, to be honest, there were a number of times which I felt this way, both before and after I knew God. However, the two conversations which I quoted above and today's passage first helped me to realise, and then reminded me that it wasn't at all due to my ability that I managed to achieve things, but it all came from God. We should be happy when we receive good results, but at the same time we have to bear in mind that it was because of God's grace that the glory was brought about. (Like what was mentioned in Steph's post about Psalm 84)

Another thing which I got out of this passage was that "We do not rival the apostles in our accomplishments for God, but we all have things we do for Him." Quote Romans 12:4-6, "Just as each of us has one body with many members, and these members do not all have the same function, so in Christ we who are many form one body, and each member belongs to all the others. We have different gifts, according to the grace given us." I know that I've probably mentioned this a few times to some people before, but guess I still have a lot to learn before I can really stop comparing myself to people around me. Like what the passage mentioned, we shouldn't compete against one another while we serve God, as we all have things we do for him, neither should we compare ourselves with each other, feeling the sense of superiority / inferiority, or even jealous. The one thing we all should do is to act as "Glory Deflectors" of Him.

yee kuan