Encouraging - Glory

My mind of late has been consumed with swimming. Even though the state swim meet is seven weeks away, I continue to wrestle with the optimum lineup for the state meet. Our team is very good this year, but so are a handful of other teams. More than ever, I feel an overwhelming sense of responsibility to look at the data from every angle in order to maximize our point total. I was discussing the various events with another swim coach. I offered that the 50 freestyle was the riskiest event to place a swimmer in because of all the different factors which required exact precision. He proceeded to explain that’s why he loved the event so much because every detail needed to be so exact, but more importantly because it evoked the most glory from everyone. His statement struck me. When this individual swam he was not a Christian, but even those of us that are Christians still struggle with the same dilemma. We’re drawn to those activities that give us the most human glory. I started reading this great book recently by John MacArthur entitled, Twelve Ordinary Men: How the Master Shaped His Disciples for Greatness, and What He Wants to Do with You, which takes a chapter on each disciple to discuss how Jesus used “nobodies” to ensure that He might receive the glory: “God’s favorite instruments are nobodies, so that no man can boast before God. In other words, God chooses whom He chooses in order that He might receive the glory. He chooses weak instruments so that no one will attribute the power to human instruments rather than to God, who wields those instruments. Such a strategy is unacceptable to those whose whole pursuit in life is aimed toward the goal of human glory” (p. 13).

Would you rather be a nobody or a human glory seeker?