May 7, 2024
Tuesday, May 7, 2024
Read: Isaiah 26:12-15 Giving God the Glory
12 Lord, grant us peace, because all that we have done has been your doing…
15 You’ve enlarged the nation, Lord.
You’ve enlarged the nation; you are glorified.
You’ve expanded all the land’s boundaries.
Isaiah 26:12, 15; CEB
Although participants showered me with compliments for facilitating them through the nine-month Disciple Bible study, I knew it wasn’t me. Only by the grace and power of God, did my puny outlines stimulate in-depth conversations and revelations about God and His Word; or did someone thank me for my comments that resonated deeply with them – only problem was that I didn’t remember those words, nor could I find them in my notes.
Receiving compliments can be awkward. While we want to be appreciated for work we do, we also want to avoid taking the glory; we know that God, by His grace and power through the Holy Spirit, created the success. By stopping short at accepting the compliment, we can give the impression that we succeeded by our personal power and abilities. That is rarely, if ever, the case when we are on assignment from God, …because all that we have done has been [His] doing.
So, we’re left with a dilemma: How can we accept a compliment but still give God the credit and glory? After a little research and reflection, I found three helpful steps:
- Thank the individual for their encouraging compliment, and
- Express our joy and pleasure at the opportunity to serve God with our gifts.
- Give God the glory by acknowledging that anything praiseworthy in us or through us that helps another and points them to God, is all His doing.
Reflect: Be prepared for the next time you receive a compliment … write in a journal or on a notecard what you can say to thank someone for a compliment, express your pleasure in serving, and give God the glory for how He did it.
Pray: Father God, Thank You for patiently working in me as one who wants increasingly to walk in the footsteps of Jesus and reflect his image. Let your Holy Spirit prompt me always with the personal reminder and spoken words that Your creative power in me is what enables all that I am and do. To you always be the power and glory forever. In the name of Your Son, Jesus, Amen.
By His Grace,
Gloria
Consider this, if you are enjoying the Practice the Pause daily devotionals, I invite you to share the link with someone else today, encouraging and offering them a blessing along the way. Invite them to subscribe (and confirm their subscription.) You never know what the light of Christ may ignite within them.