Dear
Friends,
A
young seminary graduate proudly strode up to the pulpit exuding extreme
self- confidence. He began to deliver his first sermon at his new church, and
the words simply would not come out. Finally, he burst into tears and ended up
leaving the platform obviously humbled.
There
were two older ladies sitting in the front row and one remarked to the other,
“If he’d come in like he went out, he would have gone out like he came in.”
Humility
is a key quality of the one who wants to be a servant of God. There is always
the temptation to exalt ourselves, and to glorify our own abilities and
accomplishments, but to do so can be very dangerous.
In
Acts 12 we read the consequences of King Herod’s refusal to give glory to God.
“On
the appointed day, Herod, wearing his royal robes, sat on his throne and
delivered a public address to the people. They shouted, this is the voice of a
God, not of a man. Immediately, because Herod did not give praise to God, an
angel of the Lord struck him down, and he was eaten by worms and died.” (Acts
12: 21-23)
The
Lord is a jealous God, and He will not share his glory with man.
Isaiah
writes, “I am the Lord; That is my name! I will not give my glory to
another or my praise to idols.” (Isaiah, 42: 8)
The
best way to avoid the consequences of pride is to remember what F. B. Meyer
once wrote. “I used to think that God’s gifts were on shelves, one above the
other, and that the taller one grew in Christian character, the more easily he
could reach them. I now find that God’s gifts are on shelves one beneath the
other, and that it is not a question of growing taller but of stooping lower.”
Too
bad poor old Herod never read. F. B. Meyer. At least he had an excuse, but not
us.
Let’s
keep stooping and who knows the gifts that we might discover as we serve the
Lord Jesus Christ.
Yours
in faith and friendship,
Tom
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