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In Christ, Mark
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The scriptures. May God bless the reading of His holy word.
“He led you through the vast and dreadful desert, that thirsty and waterless land, with its venomous snakes and scorpions. He brought you water out of hard rock. He gave you manna to eat in the desert, something your fathers had never known, to humble and to test you so that in the end it might go well with you. You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth, and so confirms His covenant, which He swore to your forefathers, as it is today.”
“If you ever forget the Lord your God and follow other gods and worship and bow down to them, I testify against you today that you will surely be destroyed. Like the nations the Lord destroyed before you, so you will be destroyed for not obeying the Lord your God.”
Deuteronomy 8:15-20
This ends this reading from God's holy word. Thanks be to God.
Ability.
It’s defined as:
1. the quality or state of being able.
2. the physical, mental, or legal power to perform.
3. competence in doing : skill.
4. natural aptitude or acquired proficiency.
Why start with a definition of this word?
Because the truth of the matter is that we all have ability or abilities whether it be in the way of skills or competencies we have developed, acquired proficiencies, or natural aptitudes. Indeed, we travel a road of discovery in our lives from beginning to end.
So as we discover these abilities and put them to use, the following questions arise:
Who do we give credit to for them? Who gets the praise for being able to do the things we do?
Unfortunately, too often the answer to both of these questions becomes ourselves, something I like to refer to as the “I Syndrome”.
This syndrome is an easy trap to fall into and one Satan is eager to lead us into. It’s grounded in self-pride over any accomplishments we achieve and is often fueled by the compliments of others who want to let us know how well we used our abilities to succeed in something. In response to these platitudes, we too often acknowledge their praise by taking credit for what we’ve done.
For example, I have the gift of singing and have had the privilege to perform many times. When this has happened, I have always had people come up to me and say how much of a beautiful voice I have and how they were blessed by the songs I sang. Within that scene, it would so easy for me to thank them for their flattery and share about how much practice and rehearsal had gone into being as good as I am.
And while saying that would be true, it wouldn’t be telling the whole story. For although I had put a lot of work and effort to be able to perform as I did, it was really the Lord who had made it all possible, the One who had not only given me the gift of singing but then created the opportunity for me to perform while empowering me through His Spirit and power as I sang.
In other words, only He deserves the honor and glory, something we need to be conscientious of when we’re doing anything well in His name.
I have been very intentional about putting this into practice in my life, whether when singing, teaching, writing, preaching, or doing anything else the Lord calls me to do. Anytime adulation comes, I simply just deflect recognition towards God for when it comes right down to it, I couldn’t do anything without Him.
He is the One who has blessed me with ability.
He is the one who has allowed me to be competent in skills.
And He and only He has given me natural aptitude. In fact, He created aptitude and that’s why it is “natural” in the first place.
Well in our scripture today, Moses reinforces this ideal of acknowledging God first before oneself as He says this to the Israelites:
“You may say to yourself, ‘My power and the strength of my hands have produced this wealth for me.’ But remember the Lord your God, for it is He who gives you the ability to produce wealth...”
Moses speaks from experience here for we know that God has already taught him the dangers of taking credit when it really should have been given to his Lord. This occurred when Moses and Aaron took the attention away from God by making it appear that they had brought water from a rock when they really hadn’t been responsible. For we know that it was the Lord’s mighty, miraculous power that had made it happen.
Well, the sinful action cost Moses the opportunity to lead Israel into Canaan. His inability to credit God cost him his privilege and ability to lead the Israelites into the Promised Land.
Friends, we need to learn from the mistake of Moses, lifting God up at every opportunity and render all honor to Him, especially when people try and glorify us above Him. For when it comes down to it, anything good that comes from us is only a byproduct of His goodness, the goodness He has displayed in and through us.
Indeed, any talents we possess are blessings from the Lord and so any recognition, commendation, or praise, whether offered in public or private, belongs to Him...the One through which all good things come…to the One from whom all blessings flow and flow abundantly.
In the end translation, I pray that as Christians we might become more and more like Jesus who said this:
Jesus answered, “If I were to honor Myself, that honor would be worth nothing. The one who honors Me is my Father—the very one you say is your God.” John 8:54
Amen.
In Christ,
Mark
PS: Feel free to leave a comment and please share this with anyone you feel might be blessed by it. Send any prayer requests to TheChristianWalkPrayers@gmail.com.
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