Mat 5:16 Let your light so
shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father
which is in heaven.
2Cr 4:7-8 But we have this treasure
in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of
us. We are troubled on every side, yet
not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair;
Because of inherent self-centeredness, we are tempted by two
maladies on opposite ends of a scale: pride
on one side; despair on the other. When we are doing well—hitting on all
cylinders, seeing the good results of our efforts—we are tempted to begin to
gloat in our own accomplishments. Pastor Don Baker writes in his courageous
autobiography of his falling into this pit after God used him to cast out a
demon from a poor soul who approached him after a speaking engagement. Quoting
from his book, Depression: Finding Hope in Life’s Darkest Shadow: “If there had been any fault after my
Satanist friend’s deliverance, it was that of self-glorification. I loved to
tell that story. I delighted in the admiring responses. I quickly took the
praise to myself….Pride engulfed me—and nearly destroyed me.”
He identified this pride as one of the crucial elements of
his depression.
Jesus warns His disciples regarding this type of
spiritual pride when they returned after venturing out in ministry and
discovering that they had authority over evil spirits in His name:
Luk 10:17,20 And the seventy
returned again with joy, saying, Lord, even the devils are subject unto us
through thy name… [He replied] Notwithstanding
in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice,
because your names are written in heaven.
In Mt.5:16, quoted above, we are admonished to let our good
works serve to “glorify your Father in
heaven”—not your self. There may be a fine line between being thankful that God uses us to do His
wonderful liberating work, and pride
or self-glorification. It is a very
important line. It makes the difference
between joyful exaltation or falling into disgrace [Mt.23:12].
On the other hand, when we are not doing so well, when our
efforts seem fruitless and we wonder if we are making any useful contributions
to the Kingdom, or even to our own family, we are tempted to fall into despair.
Like Elijah in the cave, we may just want God to take us out of the world,
feeling alone and useless [1Kng19]. This too issues out of ego-centered living.
It is a form of faithlessness. All through the history of our faith we see that
God’s children enter dark nights of the soul, feeling alone and forsaken. Our
Lord Himself called out from the depths of His soul “My God, my God, why have You forsaken me?”
But never in all the history of our Faith has God forsaken
one of His own. And He will not forsake you or me. But we must be prepared to feel forsaken—without losing faith. As
Paul wrote [above], we may be troubled and perplexed, but not in despair. If we
expect to always be able to see how God is doing His wonderful work beyond our
sight or off our radar screen, we will languish in despair. When our work seems fruitless, God says to us
as he did to Cain, “Why are you downcast?
If you do well, will you not be accepted?” [Gn.4] If we persevere, God will
come through in due time. He expects us to be able to faithfully endure some
dark times, as we expect our children to delay their gratification. The sun
always returns after the darkest of days and nights. And the longer the
darkness, the more glorious the sun appears to our longing hearts.
Lord, please deliver
us from pride, and from despair. Help us live by faith and not by sight; and
may You receive glory for all that You do through us Your thankful servants.
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