Elevate God
“For we never used flattering speech, as you know, or had greedy motives – God is our witness – and we didn’t seek glory from people, either from you or from others.” - 1 Thessalonians 2:5-6
The core of humility is to think of others more and of yourself less. The more self important you make yourself the lower others become in your mind. This is where pride seeps into our heart and we live with a sense of entitlement instead of humility. When you watch professional athletes there are some that make demands and expect people to act a certain way due their standing as professionals. Whereas others choose to not use their standing to raise themselves above others.
We can also find another example of walking with humility from the apostles. In Paul's letter to the Thessalonians, he states that as apostles they could have made demands and elevated themselves due to their social standing, but they didn’t. As followers of Christ, we are called to be humble and think of others and not ourselves. The apostles could have gone from town to town and been treated like kings due to their closeness to God, but that would be glorifying themselves and not God.
There may come a time in your life where society puts you on a higher standing than others. Maybe you make it big in your sport or score the winning goal in a big game. It's easy to let others elevate you and receive all the praise. You must remember that even if you are receiving all the attention, God is the one that deserves the praise and glory for any and all success we have.
Do not let this world convince you that the best place to be is at the top, it gets lonely at the top of the mountain. Instead choose to remain in the valley where you can shine the light of Christ to all.
- Why is it dangerous to elevate yourself above others?
- What does a life of humility look like?
- Why does society want to elevate some people and not others?
“Lord God, when You sent Your Son, He was the perfect example of how to walk a humble life. The world tries to elevate us to different standings but help us always, through the wins and loses, only seek to elevate Your Name, Amen.”