Do not put yourself forward in the king’s presence or stand in the place of the great, for it is better to be told, “Come up here,” than to be put lower in the presence of a noble. (Pro 25:6-7a)
It is not good to eat much honey, nor is it glorious to seek one’s own glory. (Proverbs 25:27)
If you followed certain suggestions made pretty loudly in our commercial consumer society where you are the client and the customer is always right, it’s not surprising to discover that the ethos behind this is on the surface to suggest that the customer is always right, that the customer is King. Often the people who make the larger impression on the world around us is the one who will not take any rubbish from anyone and will forcefully go for their stuff. This kind of character, looking for centre-stage is not reticent to grabbing the seats of prominence in any large setting. And after all because you’re worth it, then you’re taking what’s rightfully yours.
The problem with this thinking and the mind-set where the centre of the universe is me and it’s all about me and the heart of worship is satisfying my ego is that it is selling a dangerous lie. When God made man in His image, it was for the purpose of reflecting the glory of his Creator. So the source and target of all the credit in the universe was always meant to go in one direction. That’s why the focus on fearing God as the foundation of wisdom immediately stops us from being sucked into the oldest trick in the book.
The image we have in the proverb about eating too much honey and seeking one’s own glory has that graphic of that sick feeling you get in the stomach when you’ve had too many sweets. That queasy look and shudders that something has been done to the body that shouldn’t be done and will have ill effects is memorable especially in the experience of a child. They have been asking for the sweets all along and think they can handle it, only for the whining and groaning later on to suggest that they would not be making that mistake in a hurry. Likewise the desire to have the focus on us is not healthy at all, it only leads to that queasy feeling of being full of something that doesn’t belong to us and leaving us very ill indeed. It sounds sweet at first to get that adulation, but on tasting it you realise why it’s such an acquired taste that was only ever designed for the Divine.
When we get back to the foundation, not only are we then aware that we are not the centre of the universe, our actions and deeds are not motivated by seeking to be the centre of attention. On the contrary, the recognition that God is the truce centre means our activities in reflecting His glory is done primarily for the benefit of others, as we understand that like our Father we’re ultimately givers whose gifts have been shared so that we can likewise share them with others for no other reason than the compassion of God compels us to do so. Our gifts are best utilised with no thought for the pursuit of our own glory, but rather that of Another. This recognition is the heart of humility means others will recognise whatever contribution there is to recognise and flag it up without us needing to be our own inflated PR.
Humble yourselves before the Lord, and he will exalt you. (James 4:10)
James would later give similar advice that also echoes the wisdom found here. This is the gist of the wisdom from the ages encasulated in the word that those who abase themselves will be exalted, whilst those who go about exalting themselves will eventually be abased, and with death being the ultimate abasement, then we have no room for thinking of ourselves as the great big cheese. Rather we’ll be equally as relaxed taking the seat at the back with the homies there.
Our position is always safe on acknowledging that all we are and ever have to contribute is from God and is all about God. It is not about us at all.
For His Name’s Sake
Shalom
dmcd
Life With CD 