Who Gets The Credit?
This title is from the April 17, 2012 article in the Our Daily Bread magazine. As I work in groups with others, I'm reminded of my competitive nature (not a good thing necessarily) and my tendency to "strive." I strive to do things "just right" and often drive myself and others crazy in the process. Of course, after all that striving, I want credit for a job well done. (Sound like pride?) I've worked on this tendency and have seen improvement, but I have a long way to go until I'm Christlike.
I'm going to include an excerpt from this article by Joe Stowell as it speaks to the need to get credit when it may not be due:
We naturally want to draw attention to ourselves, to show off our accomplishments and abilities. Sometimes we think that life is all about us. But living like that is self-delusion at its worst. In reality, our sinfulness has put us "in the corner," from God's point of view. Thankfully, Paul's testimony gives us the right perspective. In spite of his impressive credentials, he gladly surrendered to the supremacy of Jesus: "But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ" (Phil. 3:7). Paul admitted that in order to "gain Christ" (v. 8), he had to lay all of his trophies down.
So, give Jesus Christ the braggin' rights of your life. Or, as Paul put it, "He who glories, let him glory in the LORD" (1 Cor. 1:31)--not in yourself!...Lord, You are the One who is high and lofty. I give myself today to the purpose of pointing others to You, for who You are and what You do. You deserve all praise...We are nothing without Jesus, so give Him the credit.
I'm going to include an excerpt from this article by Joe Stowell as it speaks to the need to get credit when it may not be due:
We naturally want to draw attention to ourselves, to show off our accomplishments and abilities. Sometimes we think that life is all about us. But living like that is self-delusion at its worst. In reality, our sinfulness has put us "in the corner," from God's point of view. Thankfully, Paul's testimony gives us the right perspective. In spite of his impressive credentials, he gladly surrendered to the supremacy of Jesus: "But what things were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ" (Phil. 3:7). Paul admitted that in order to "gain Christ" (v. 8), he had to lay all of his trophies down.
So, give Jesus Christ the braggin' rights of your life. Or, as Paul put it, "He who glories, let him glory in the LORD" (1 Cor. 1:31)--not in yourself!...Lord, You are the One who is high and lofty. I give myself today to the purpose of pointing others to You, for who You are and what You do. You deserve all praise...We are nothing without Jesus, so give Him the credit.
This tiny plant growing in a crack in Columbia doesn't take credit for its life. It knows who created it and doesn't boast about its existence or the shade it gives or the nutrients it provides.
Philippians 3:7 But whatever were gains to me I now consider loss for the sake of Christ. 8 What is more, I consider everything a loss because of the surpassing worth of knowing Christ Jesus my Lord, for whose sake I have lost all things. I consider them garbage, that I may gain Christ 9 and be found in him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in[a] Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis of faith. 10 I want to know Christ—yes, to know the power of his resurrection and participation in his sufferings, becoming like him in his death,11 and so, somehow, attaining to the resurrection from the dead.
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