It has been an incredible experience to get to do what I get to do for a living. Each week I get to write and plan for our student ministry, and I love being able to be a part of what God is doing in our church. Over the weekend I got a chance to speak - something that I really love - and I received many compliments about my speaking abilities.
Don't worry. The point of this post is not to talk about how great I am. In fact, I want to talk about the opposite.
I feel so overwhelmed and blessed by the amount of encouragement and praise that I've received from those who know me closely and intimately. In fact, it has bolstered my confidence in the opinion that this might be a spiritual gift of mine. In fact, when you're doing something for God, and there are people that you respect telling you that you're good at it, maybe that's a gift that God has given you. So, it can be a very powerful and wonderful thing to be encouraged in your spiritual gift.
However, all of this encouragement can begin to inflate your sense of personal pride and your ego. That was never my intention; nonetheless, it still happens a little.
Not that I begin thinking about how great I am or how wonderful I must be, but I begin envisioning a distorted view of God. I begin imagining that when God looks at the things that I do for Him, that He is overwhelmed with gratitude and begins jumping up and down, screaming at the top of His lungs (which is really loud if you're God), "Thank you, thank you, thank you, Nathan! Oh, I'm so grateful that you decided to do something for me! Thank you so much! I so appreciate having a follower like you! I wish I had ten million of you, and then I could get some REAL work done!"
I'm going to be honest, that was pretty painful to write. In fact, until we see it written out like that, we don't realize that we look at God like this. Like a helpless boss who is sitting around, waiting for us to get off of our butt to do something. As if God was just so thankful to have you help that He would throw a parade for us, because otherwise His will wouldn't get done. But let's be clear about one thing:
God doesn't need you
I know that might feel like it's not right, but it really is. I don't mean for this to offend anybody, I really don't, but I think this is something that some of us need to hear every so often. I know that I do.
As we talked about on our retreat, our lives can matter. In fact, we were created to have purpose, for our lives to have meaning, and for us to be a part of God's plan to change the world. That's the most important thing to remember:
GOD is changing the world
Retreats don't change the world, programs don't change the world, messages don't change the world, songs don't change the world, but the God who created the world has the power to change the world. And God is in the process of changing this world...forever.
The amazing part of being in relationship with God is that He invites us to join along with Him as He changes the world, but we have to make sure that we remember who it is that is changing the world. We have to remember where our focus should be. And most importantly, I have to remember what I am in comparison.
Tiny
In comparison to the power, the beauty, the majesty, the purity, the overwhelming greatness that is our God, I am so small in comparison. I may do things that are considered great in the eyes of this world, but the truth is that I am unable to do any of these things without God. God is more than capable to change the world, He is not held back if I decide I'm too lazy to get off my butt and help out. God doesn't need me, but
I need God
In John 3:30, John the Baptist testifies about Jesus, and he claims, "He must increase, and I must decrease". John's not saying that we somehow can make God bigger or smaller than He is, because we have no authority or power to do that. What John states here is that in order for us to truly be a part of God's plan, we have to point all of the glory back towards God. Another version of the Bible states it this way, "He must become more important, and I must become less important".
This is where God is pulling me back down to. God may let me be a small part (a very, very small part) of what He's doing in this world, but in order to be aligned with God's will for this world, I need to decrease in importance and He must increase in importance. I can try my best to grab a little bit of God's glory in my struggle to be on top, but in the end I'll be left on my knees, empty-handed.
God's not interested in sharing His glory. God is glorious, and He intends to get all of the glory. He intends to use me and consume me, but it is all done in an effort to bring Himself more glory. Believe me, I'm alright with that.
It's not egotistical, it's not arrogant, it's God showing who He really is.
Because God is glorious
Righteous
Majestic
Marvelous
Wondrous
Everlasting
Holiness embodied
All-Powerful
All-Knowing
All-Consuming
Always present
A blinding light
A strong tower
The Father of lights
The Father of creation
I am blessed to give God all of the glory. It probably will always be a temptation to try and grab a little glory for myself, and make myself out to be more important. Yet when I remember about how small I am in comparison to God, it becomes easy to deflect any glory that might come my way back towards God.
I am not glorious, although I might want to be. I am not great, although I might want to be. I am not in charge, although I might want to be. I am not God, although I might want to be. I can try my best to be on the top of the hill grabbing as much glory as I can, but it's like chasing the wind. I'm left on my knees, empty-handed. God deserves all of the glory, and He's determined to get it.
I pray that those who made it through this entire blog post will be willing to say, "He must increase, and I must decrease". I pray that we can become a church that says, "To God be the glory".
God is God, and God is good. To God be the glory.
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