It's Not About Me - Max Lucado [29]
The frog overheard his question and couldn’t resist a reply. “I diiiiiiiii ...”
Don’t make the same mistake. “Pride goes before destruction, and haughtiness before a fall” (Proverbs 16:18 NLT). Why are you good at what you do? For your comfort? For your retirement? For your self-esteem? No. Deem these as bonuses, not as the reason. Why are you good at what you do? For God’s sake. Your success is not about what you do. It’s all about him—his present and future glory.
CHAPTER FOURTEEN
UPWARD THINKING
14
“So, you like Jewish authors?”
The fellow asking the question sat on the aisle seat. I had the window, which meant I had a view of the runway. The mechanical crew was repairing a bird dent on the wing.While they worked, I read. As I read my Bible, the rabbi interrupted.
“So, you like Jewish authors?”
The twinkle in his eye betrayed his pleasure in the question. His chest-length mop of a beard couldn’t hide his smile. I had spotted him earlier in the waiting area. The tassels from his shirttail and hair-clipped yarmulke led me to peg him as the pious, silent type.
Pious. Yes. But silent? He loved to talk. He loved to talk Torah. I was in for a lesson.Tucked away in the ceremonies and laws of Moses, he explained, are pictures of God. Who could offer a sacrifice and not weep for God’s grace? Who could read about servants redeeming their kinsmen and not think about God redeeming us? And who could read the third commandment without remembering to live for God’s glory?
I signaled a time-out, opened to Exodus, and read the third command: “You shall not take the name of the LORD your God in vain” (20:7). My puzzled expression was enough to request an explanation.
“Don’t think language; think lifestyle,” he instructed. “The command calls us to elevate the name or reputation of God to the highest place. We exist to give honor to his name. May I illustrate?”
WE EXIST TO GIVE
HONOR TO HIS NAME.
By now the damaged wing was fixed (the plane’s; can’t speak for the bird). And as we gained altitude, so did the rabbi. I took notes. He proceeded to create a story involving a Manhattan skyscraper. Everyone in the building works for the CEO, who offices on the top floor. Most have not seen him, but they have seen his daughter. She works in the building for her father. She exploits her family position to her benefit.
One morning she approaches Bert, the guard.“I’m hungry, Bert. Go down the street and buy me a Danish.”
The demand places Bert in a quandary. He’s on duty. Leaving his post puts the building at risk. But his boss’s daughter insists,“Come on, now; hurry up.”
What option does he have? As he leaves, he says nothing but thinks something like, If the daughter is so bossy, what does that say about her father?
She’s only getting started. Munching on her muffin, she bumps into a paper-laden secretary. “Where are you going with all those papers?”
“To have them bound for an afternoon meeting.”
“Forget the meeting. Come to my office and vacuum the carpet.”
“But I was told ... ”
“And I am telling you something else.”
The woman has no choice. After all, this is the boss’s daughter speaking.Which causes the secretary to question the wisdom of the boss.
And on the daughter goes. Making demands. Calling shots. Interrupting schedules. Never invoking the name of her dad. Never leveraging her comments with,“My dad said ...”
No need to.
Isn’t she the boss’s child? Doesn’t the child speak for the father? And so Bert abandons his post. An assistant fails to finish a task. And more than one employee questions the wisdom of the man upstairs. Does he really know what he is doing? they wonder.
The rabbi paused here. We both felt the plane nosing downward. His remaining time was short. But his point was clear. The girl dishonored the name of her father, not with vulgar language, but with insensitive living. Keep this up and the whole building will be second-guessing the CEO.
But my traveling partner wasn’t finished. He scratched his bearded chin and lifted both eyebrows as he proposed, “But what if the daughter acted