It's Not About Me - Max Lucado [7]
And Jesus declared his mission a success by saying,“I have brought you glory on earth by completing the work you gave me to do” (John 17:4 NIV).
God has one goal: God.“I have my reputation to keep up” (Isaiah 48:11 MSG).
Surprised? Isn’t such an attitude, dare we ask, self-centered? Don’t we deem this behavior “self-promotion”? Why does God broadcast himself ?
For the same reason the pilot of the lifeboat does.Think of it this way.You’re floundering neck-deep in a dark, cold sea. Ship sinking. Life jacket deflating. Strength waning. Through the inky night comes the voice of a lifeboat pilot. But you cannot see him.What do you want the driver of the lifeboat to do?
Be quiet? Say nothing? Stealth his way through the drowning passengers? By no means! You need volume! Amp it up, buddy! In biblical jargon, you want him to show his glory. You need to hear him say, “I am here. I am strong. I have room for you. I can save you!” Drowning passengers want the pilot to reveal his preeminence.
Don’t we want God to do the same? Look around. People thrash about in seas of guilt, anger, despair. Life isn’t working. We are going down fast. But God can rescue us. And only one message matters. His! We need to see God’s glory.
Make no mistake. God has no ego problem. He does not reveal his glory for his good.We need to witness it for ours. We need a strong hand to pull us into a safe boat. And, once aboard, what becomes our priority?
HE DOES NOT REVEAL
HIS GLORY FOR HIS
GOOD. WE NEED TO
WITNESS IT FOR OURS.
Simple. Promote God. We declare his preeminence. “Hey! Strong boat over here! Able pilot! He can pull you out!”
Passengers promote the pilot.“Not to us, O LORD, not to us, but to Your name give glory because of Your loving-kindness, because of Your truth” (Psalm 115:1). If we boast at all, we “boast in the Lord” (2 Corinthians 10:17).
The breath you took as you read that last sentence was given to you for one reason, that you might for another moment “reflect the Lord’s glory” (2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV). God awoke you and me this morning for one purpose: “Declare his glory among the nations, his marvelous deeds among all peoples” (1 Chronicles 16:24 NIV).
“God made all things, and everything continues through him and for him.To him be the glory forever” (Romans 11:36 NCV, emphasis mine).“There is only one God, the Father, who created everything, and we exist for him” (1 Corinthians 8:6 NLT, emphasis mine).
Why does the earth spin? For him.
Why do you have talents and abilities? For him.
Why do you have money or poverty? For him.
Strength or struggles? For him.
Everything and everyone exists to reveal his glory.
Including you.
CHAPTER FOUR
HOLY DIFFERENT
4
John Hanning Speke stands on the river edge and stares at the wall of water. He has dedicated the better part of 1858 to getting here. For weeks he and his party slashed through African brush and forded deep rivers. Natives bearing iron-headed spears pursued them. Crocodiles and sterns kept an eye on them. But finally, after miles of jungle marching and grass plodding, they found the falls.
Only a Britisher could so clearly understate the sight.“We were well rewarded,” he wrote in his journal.
The roar of the waters, the thousands of passenger fish, leaping at the falls with all their might, the Wasoga and Waganda fishermen coming out in boats and taking post on all the rocks with rod and hook, hippopotami and crocodiles lying sleepily on the water . . . made in all, as interesting a picture as one would want to see.1
Speke could not leave. He sketched the sight over and over. He dedicated an entire day to simply staring at the majesty of the falls at the upper Nile. Not hard to understand why.