Recognition that came with Achievement

John 5:44

“How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?”

I made my living in sales, and as a person who enjoyed my job, I also enjoyed the recognition that came with achievement.  To standout from the others, to be recognized by your peers as a professional in closing the sale, winning the trip also meant the acknowledgment by management that you were part of an elite group.  I wanted to be the best, the cream of the crop, so to say, because with that achievement you attained influence and income.  Was that wrong? 

In our culture many would say yes, but I believe they have their heads in the sand, look at those who we look up to: Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, Billy Graham, Aaron Rodgers of the Green Bay Packers, and what do they have in common, success.  We humans like to see those who fall into the elite group; I’ve never known anyone other than maybe a mother who gets excited about an underachiever. 

Could it be that being acknowledged for being the very best at what you do fits very well into God’s plan for you?  If your answer is yes, you are one hundred percent correct, for the Scripture tells us in Proverbs 10:4, “Lazy hands made a man poor, but diligent hands bring wealth.”  Also in Proverbs 22:29, “Do you see a man skilled in his work?  He will serve before kings; he will not serve before obscure men.”  It might we helpful to show you in Scripture one such man, his name was Joseph, and most of us would not want to follow his career plan, but look at what is said about him: So he (the king) left in Joseph’s care everything he had; with Joseph in charge, he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.” (Genesis 39:6)

So the problems come when we want the praise of men more than seeking the will of God, and it’s an easy trap to fall into, it’s called worldly ambition, without acknowledging that it is God who has given us all our abilities and talents.  King David’s son Absalom was such a man, in 2 Samuel 15:1, “In the course of time, Absalom provided himself with a chariot and horses and with fifty men to run ahead of him.”  And what about the mother of James and John, these boys were numbered in the twelve disciples, and mom ask that Jesus would let one sit on His right side and the other on His left in the kingdom of heaven. 

In the apostle Paul’s letter to the Colossians the third chapter and verses 23,24, we have the correct attitude, “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward.  You are serving the Lord Christ.”

From the Back Porch,

Bob Rice