Glorifying Self

Does anyone else feel really good inside when people praise you for something you've done?  Maybe you did a great job on a project at work and you get a raise, a bonus, or a party thrown in your honor.  Maybe you accomplish something that has been a goal for quite some time and people celebrate that with you.  Whatever the case, getting praised for something feels good, doesn't it?


That said, reading this morning convicted me about that very thing.  I try not to, but a lot of the time I catch myself trying to do something that earns someone's praise.  I try to be better than everyone, or be the first to do something, or have all the right answers.  I even look for situations where I can offer my opinion on an issue or dilemma that someone has in the hopes that people will recognize and praise my intelligence and wit.  To be honest, the pride in me really wants to receive praise.


Now, don't get me wrong - praise is a good thing!  Praise can encourage a person when they're feeling down.  Praise can be a motivator for further good deeds.  Praise gives our Father in heaven the glory He deserves from us, of which we can never give enough.  Praise is an incredible word with a lot of application to our everyday lives.


The problem is when we seek out praise.  When I find myself doing things not because of the good that they are but because of the praise I will receive, that's a problem.  When I discover that I accept the praise for something as if I deserved it instead of pointing it back to God, that's a huge problem.  It can even be classified as idolatry - I'm placing me above God.


Jesus said in John 8:54, "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing."


Did you get that?  Jesus - the one Man who lived a perfect, sinless life on earth, the one person who was fully Man and fully God at the same time, the one Man who actually deserved glory because He was the Son of God - said, "If I glorify myself, my glory is nothing!"


Jesus understood that unless His Father received the glory, it meant nothing.  It was worth nothing.  It was a waste of time.  Unless the praise we receive is seen through the lens of glorifying God, we may as well have not received any praise at all.  That's why Jesus says in Mark 8:34-35, "If anyone would come after me, let him deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.  For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses himself for my sake and the gospel's will save it."  Our job here on earth is to completely give up our wants, our desires, our fancy jobs, our beautiful houses, our very lives for the sake of glorifying God.


If you give up those things for the sake of Christ, will God still bless you with them?  Maybe.  Probably.


Will it be worth it even if He doesn't give them to you?  Infinitely so.


I'll end with the perfectly fitting lyrics of Selah's song 'Glory'

We want to see your Glory

Every knee falls down before thee

Every tongue offers You praise

With every hand raised

Singing Glory

To you and unto you only

We'll sing Glory to Your name