Benefit

Written by cycleguy on February 17th, 2015

thefi5thgospel

In chapter 3 of his book, Bobby writes this: “God doesn’t exist for our benefit. We exist for His glory!” (p.59)

In my morning devotions today (Tuesday) I read these words: “Not to us, O Lord, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness.” Psalm 115:1

In the last post about this book, I talked about the cost of following Jesus. The basic idea is we have adopted a consumer mentality when it comes to serving God. We present to Him our never-ending shopping list. It is like God is our magic genie in the sky.

The hard truth we have to come to realize is we do exist for His glory. Our My main purpose was never supposed to be promoting Bill. The moment “I” become more important than Him, and in seeing His name “in lights,” is the moment I have lost my focus and am trying to steal His glory. The Bible is very clear on God’s thoughts on that scenario. He says, “I will not share my glory with another.”

Long ago I came to the point of saying to myself, “Bill, you’re a hog, a glory hound. You may say you want to lift Jesus up, but those tend to be just words. Words & life go hand in hand.” I won’t lie and say I have that conquered. The old man in me still wants to have the preeminence. But as I grow in Christ, I also am learning to relinquish more and more control of my life to Him. As I do that, the chief by-product is He gets more glory. 🙂

Do you have trouble with wanting the attention and accolades?

 

12 Comments so far ↓

  1. Daniel says:

    I can think one thing in my mind and simultaneously go against what I should with my words or my actions. Dang if it isn’t still all about me most of the time.

  2. I’m reading a book called Rescuing Ambition. The Lord is really dealing with me about how I have sought my own ambition rather than His. It’s a step in the right direction.

  3. Gingi says:

    We’re inherently narcissistic creatures.. it’s easy to fall into the “self promotion” trap. I know I struggle with it daily. I guess knowing it’s a struggle is the first step in the battle? lol – http://www.domesticgeekgirl.com

    • cycleguy says:

      We certainly would not want to be called narcissistic but we do tend to be that way…all to different degrees. It is a struggle to “not I but Christ.”

  4. “He must increase, and I must decrease.” I keep reminding myself of that Any success I have in this life is all due to God’s grace.
    Thanks for this reminder, Bill!

  5. floyd says:

    While I was trying to grasp a firm control on your question, someone must have blind-sided me… My nose is bleeding….

    I’m guilty… Your honesty is refreshing… Uncomfortable yes… but needed; most definitely.

  6. cycleguy says:

    From Pamela: The only attention I desire is HIS

  7. I’m one of those weird people who are essentially shy, but I do typically extroverted activities like singing in front of people and speaking in gatherings. I’m much more comfortable in the background, but there comes a point you can almost resent not being noticed! It’s sort of crazy, but it’s a struggle just in a different way. Thank you, Bill. I want His glory to be seen!