When was the first time you realized you weren’t all there is? Was it when, as a pre-schooler, an older sibling snatched back a toy you had claimed for your own? We have grainy home movies of my slightly older brother and I playing tug-of-war with our push car, a replica of a ’53 Pontiac. The greed is written on both our faces. Or maybe you were the older sibling having to make room in the family for others, sharing your room, a bunkbed? Could it be when someone in grade school beat you at flashcards? Or in the spelling bee? Or at recess, cleaning up at marbles or out performing you in double-dutch? How did it feel to be brought down a notch or two? Sooner or later all of us will meet our match, but that’s nothing compared to sizing ourselves up against our Creator. However, some people never do admit they have a rival for greatness.
Every now and again, Scripture plainly provides this perspective. It says, “Do not to think of yourself more highly than you ought…” (Romans 12:3) or “For if anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. But let each one examine his own work…and not in regard to another” (Galatians 6:3-4). At the risk of offending, Paul is saying, first there’s God and all that He gives us, and then comes men and women who are responsible to Him for what they do with what He gives. Without putting God over all, we cannot appreciate our place is this world. Our confidence will be misplaced, and our efforts will be in vain.
That’s the starting point. When talking to the nation of Israel, God’s chosen people, Paul recognized their tendency to exalt themselves over others. He also was guilty of this before his Damascus road experience with Christ. Then Paul became the first missionary to the Gentiles. In Romans 11 he painstakingly explains to the Jews how God will join all peoples: “For I do not want you, brethren, to be uninformed of this mystery, lest you be wise in your own estimation…” He it is again. We want to be top dog, at the expense of others. But later in the chapter, Paul gives a context for greatness which settles the matter once and for all:
“Oh, the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! How unsearchable are His judgments and unfathomable His ways! For who has known the mind of the Lord or who became His counselor? Or who has first given to Him that it might be paid back to Him again? For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen (v. 33-36).
Bowing Down Before Him
Lord, there are really no adequate words to offer in praise for all of who You are. Our daily lives don’t usually afford dramatic opportunities to measure ourselves aright. We get lulled into certain thinking patterns or habits that serve to keep us ignorant. In Your mercy, You give us the grace to live holy before You. We were not born that way. You forgive all our sins—past, present, and future, and give us the power to forgive others. We are acceptable in Your sight, not because of what we do to earn that privilege, but because of Your great love. What a mystery beyond our understanding. Glory be to Your name, forever and ever, Amen.
God is Great
“How great is our God, sing with me
How great is our God, and all will see
How great, how great is our God.
Age to age He stands,
And time is in His hands,
Beginning and the end,
Beginning and the end.
The Godhead Three in One,
Father Spirit Son,
The Lion and the Lamb,
The Lion and the Lamb.
How great is our God, sing with me
How great is our God, and all will see
How great, how great is our God.
Name above all names,
Worthy of our praise,
My heart will sing
How great is our God.”
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