Not Me!

The WORD today (seehttp://usccb.org/bible/readings/042913.cfm) reminds me that all praise and glory should always be given to God, not to ourselves.

In life, it is not unusual to receive acknowledgement and commendations, and it is not unusual to feel good and congratulate ourselves when we receive these things. However, when it comes to working for God, our attitude should be different.

In the first reading, Paul and Barnabas were doing God’s work, and with it came powers to do great things. They healed a man and people saw it as a sign of their power, not God’s. hey thought they were gods themselves, so they were planning to offer sacrifices to them. However, the two insisted that they are not the one who healed the man – that it is only by God’s grace and God’s power that they were able to do that.

How many times do we forget this?

Sometimes, when we work for God and when we do great things – when people commend us for our strength, our prayer, our service, our actions – we feel good about ourselves and we forget the actual source of our strength and reason for our actions. We may forget that it is only by God’s grace and his power that we are able to do those things. We should not let human affirmation take us out of focus as we serve God.

May we be inspired by Paul Barnabas in always bringing glory only to God, and be one with the psalmist in saying that “Not to us, O Lord, but to your name  give the glory”

Blessed week!

Father God,

Thank you for today. Thank you for the opportunity to serve you through the SE Weekend. Thank you for rewarding me with strength as I serve you with what I have got. Lord, I pray that you always make me remember how great and loving you are, and because of that love I am able to do great things as I serve you. May I always bring you back all the glory as I build your kingdom on earth. Amen.

Blessed day!

In Christ,

-g-