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 Devotional:
August 2008
You're Not All That
Night after
night, we minister in churches and auditoriums across
the country. We have people come up to us often and
tell us how much they enjoy our ministry, how God has
used something we said or sung to make a difference in
their life, how talented they think we are. That is so
extremely encouraging, but we must be careful when we
receive that, that we know that anything good in us has
only been given to us and is not something to glory in.
I
Corinthians 4:7 states: “For who makes you to differ
from another? And what do you have that you did not
receive? Now if you received it, why do you glory, as
if you had not received it?” I absolutely love this
verse! It brings up some interesting questions. Did
you make yourself talented? Are you good-looking
because you are somehow better than someone else? Were
you born into a privileged family because you made some
kind of reservation before you were born? The answer is
a resounding “no”! In fact, Psalm 103:14 says, “For he
knoweth our frame; he remembereth that we are dust.” No
matter how highly we think of ourselves, our Creator
knows exactly where we come from and what we are made
of. I may be admired by people, but I am simply dust
put together by a Master Builder. I am amazed when I
think of what Christ has done in me. It’s when I begin
to think that I am something in myself that I am in
trouble. In fact, it has been in the times that I
thought I was really performing well that I have made
the worst and most embarrassing mistakes, a reminder
that I am a flawed, imperfect human being! Remember:
pride comes before destruction and a haughty spirit
before a fall (Proverbs 16:18).
So the next time you start to think too highly of
yourself, keep in mind that you don’t have anything that
you haven’t received. Without His breath of life in
you, you are simply a pile of dirt. In fact, the same
God that blessed you with talent, good looks, even life
itself, is able to take all that away. In other words,
apart from Him and His righteousness that you have
received (I Corinthians 5:21), you’re just not all that!
Sonya
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