We are living in a day when everyone from lawyers, to politicians, to preachers (none of my Pastors), to plumbers, to professional athletes are boldly promoting themselves or their agenda. This is exactly opposite of what the Bible teaches that we ought to do. Why should it surprise me that the world we are living in would be this way. This world is so heavily influenced by the god of this world, the Devil, that his characteristics are going to be evident everywhere we look.
Today I read, “Boast not thyself of tomorrow; for thou knowest not what a day may bring forth. Let another man praise thee, and not thine own mouth; a stranger, and not thine own lips” (Proverbs 27:1-2). Yesterday I watched a football game where one team was beaten very badly. After one of the players on the losing team (they lost by over thirty points) made a decent play, he jumped up and did all kinds of antics to draw as much attention to himself as possible. I looked at the score on the bottom of the TV and wondered what the man was so happy about! His team was losing horribly!
We must guard our hearts against the temptation to promote ourselves and our agendas over God’s plan for our lives. The Word of God tells us that the greatest compliment we can receive would be to hear God say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” Did you catch the last word? While we struggle to make sure our name appears on the program in the proper place; and we make sure that when the compliments are handed out, that our name gets mentioned where it should; and we do not take pleasure in the promotion or the acknowledgement of others; while we struggle with all of this, God is looking for us to become true servants!
The temptation for each of us is to do the opposite of what the writer of Proverbs 27 was encouraging us to do. We tend to boast about what we are planning to do, and where we will go, and even what we will become … all the while ignoring this challenge to simply trust God for the results of where He will lead us. We love to exalt our name and ourselves as much as we can. We are like the player who makes one good play and then points to our name on the back of our jersey.
Remember, the greatest compliment you could receive in all the world will be to hear God commend you for being a “faithful servant.” Keep that in mind today, and do all that you can to serve others. God is not interested in how many touchdowns you score, but in how many people you have served!