Americans are a competitive lot, always comparing! We create all kinds of lists of winners and losers: The 100 richest people, the worst-dressed, the best-dressed, who's hot, who's not. So, what's the matter with that? All that comparing and measuring is a source of great anxiety, and worse, the cause of many sins. Core characteristics of Christ-followers are humility and contentment, traits that cannot flourish in the life of someone who is constantly calculating his wins and losses while striving to improve his social status! I see this competition for status even among Pastors. When we get together we ask, "so how's your church doing?" Almost always that is code for "how many people are attending your services these days?" The guy who is preaching to a thousand instantly enjoys more status than the guy who is preaching to 100. We seldom stop to consider that even a circus can attract a big crowd. We ought to be concerned with spiritual growth, with deepening devotion, with fidelity to the Truth of the Word as measures of success in ministry, but instead, we look at crowds - the most most superficial measure of success. I believe it was Richard Foster who observed that many of us 'buy things we do not need to impress people we do not like!' Such is the seduction of image and status.
When we are driven by a need for the approval of others to validate our personal worth, we will certainly concern ourselves less about being authentically good and more about 'looking good.' Let me illustrate what I mean in this way. A young man decides that he will start going to the gym to improve his health. He starts working out with the best of motives - being healthy. Then, he sees some great bodies, sharp muscle definition, appearing amazingly fit; and he learns that with some help from chemicals and steroids he can have a body like that with much less effort on his part. With injections and pills, he achieves the look, but actually destroys his health in the process. Stupid, right? Sure is, but people do that in every area of life. A person marries another because they are beautiful not because they will be a great life partner. A person takes a job because it pays a great salary, not because it provides an opportunity to use their abilities in the best way.
Believer, do you realize that your spiritual life can be co-opted in the same way? It is possible to do all the right things for all the wrong reasons. You can attend worship regularly in order to build a strong relationship with the Body of Christ, or you can do it because it causes others to admire your dedication. Prayer, Bible Study, Christian service can be done to please God and enhance spiritual vitality; or they can be done to gain status in a spiritual community. Spiritual acts done in the service of self are corrupt and soon develop the stench of all things rotten!
In Matthew 6, Jesus spoke to prayer, giving, and fasting illustrating the importance of keeping God as the focus of our spiritual service. He reminds us that if we do our spiritual disciplines to gain the approval of others, the sole benefit will be their applause!
"When you do something for someone else, don’t call attention to yourself. You’ve seen them in action, I’m sure—‘playactors’ I call them—treating prayer meeting and street corner alike as a stage, acting compassionate as long as someone is watching, playing to the crowds. They get applause, true, but that’s all they get. ...
And when you come before God, don’t turn that into a theatrical production either. All these people making a regular show out of their prayers, hoping for stardom! Do you think God sits in a box seat? "Here’s what I want you to do: Find a quiet, secluded place so you won’t be tempted to role-play before God. Just be there as simply and honestly as you can manage. The focus will shift from you to God, and you will begin to sense his grace. ...
When you practice some appetite-denying discipline to better concentrate on God, don’t make a production out of it. It might turn you into a small-time celebrity but it won’t make you a saint." (Matthew 6:2, 5-6, 16, The Message)
I have known many who live to impress others, who desperately needs that applause and approval. Those who chose that way of life turn the world into their stage and, day after day, write a script that allows them to be the star in their own little production. It is a pathetic thing to behold. As that person ages, as he reaches the limits of accomplishment, others who are younger, stronger; who can do the dance better and faster, will take center stage. What then, for the one who lives on the praise of the audience? Only tragic sadness, only bitterness!
Here's the most wonderfully amazing truth - God loves you completely just as you are! There is nothing you can do that will make Him love you more than He does at this moment. Your significance as a person, your worth, is secure in His love. Settle that for yourself, then begin to live for the approval of just One Person. Make it your goal to be all He wants you to be, no more, no less. That, dear Believer, is genuine humility and leads to sweet contentment.
Here's a word from the Word. Think on it today - "A devout life does bring wealth, but it’s the rich simplicity of being yourself before God." (1 Timothy 6:6, The Message)
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