Proverbs 4:20-27
20 My son, give attention to my words; Incline your ear to my sayings.21 Do not let them depart from your eyes; Keep them in the midst of your heart;22 For they are life to those who find them, And health to all their flesh.23 Keep your heart with all diligence, For out of it spring the issues of life.24 Put away from you a deceitful mouth, And put perverse lips far from you.25 Let your eyes look straight ahead, And your eyelids look right before you.26 Ponder the path of your feet, And let all your ways be established.27 Do not turn to the right or the left; Remove your foot from evil.
Third row… blonde hair… blue eyes… well dressed… lights dim… you’re working the melody on that beautiful worship tune you wrote this week… she’s looking right at you… the look on her face tells you that you’ve connected with her… next thing you know, you find yourself in a place you never should have been and you’ve lost everything.
We don’t like to admit it, but this very trap is one of the easiest to fall into. We love attention. We love it when people tell us we sounded good on a song. We crave approval from others. We want to know that the gift inside us is being accepted.
The unfortunate thing about this is that, because we do not understand who we are in Christ, we look for approval and affirmation from places we were never designed to receive them from. In Christ, we are accepted. In Christ we are good enough. In Christ, we are better than we could ever be outside of Him.
The other thing we miss is that the anointing of God draws people closer to Him. If we are not careful, we mistake people drawing close to Him for them responding to us. When this happens, our minds and hearts become tainted with thoughts of our own greatness. This is the beginning of the end in most cases.
There are some simple things we can do to keep from falling into this snare the devil loves to set for us.
1- First and foremost; realize that we are created for God and any gift we have been given cannot be mistaken for anything we deserved and must be used to give glory back to Him.
2- Set up accountability. Find someone you trust and can share everything with. If you’re married, this might be your spouse. Make a commitment to each other that you will be honest about your deepest feelings; even if they are not the best or purest feelings. Talk with that person specifically about these types of things. Remember, roaches always scatter when the lights come on. If you talk about it and get it out, you’ve fought more than half the battle.
3- Realize that the gifts and callings of God make us better than we really are. People are drawn to the anointing, but we must understand the importance of protecting the fact that God has chosen us. Just ask King Saul how it feels to find out that you’ve lost the favor of God and not even know it has left your life.
4- One simple phrase has helped me so many times. I say it to myself in the mirror almost every day and if I forget it, God always sends someone to help me remember it… you ready? Here it is… don’t miss it…
YOU AIN’T ALL THAT!
Father, help us all to realize that you’ve chosen us for a purpose. Help us to know that it is your grace and your grace alone that has reached down and pulled us out of our hard places. Help us to know that any gift you’ve given us is simply to point people to you and your glory. Help us to be clean vessels, fit to be used by a Holy God, powerful in our position as ministers of your Kingdom, and humble in our pursuit of Godly perfection and purpose.
Your thoughts are welcome…