Meditate On
You are my God, and I will praise You; You are my God, I
will exalt You.
Psalm 118:28
Forgo
Flattery, Exalt Jesus
When the apostle Paul and Silas were in Philippi, a
certain slave girl possessed with a demonic spirit of divination met them. She
was a fortune-teller who brought good profits to her masters. This girl
followed Paul and Silas wherever they went, crying out, “These men are the
servants of the Most High God, who proclaim to us the way of salvation” (Acts
16:17). And she did this for many days.
Now, let me ask you, was there anything wrong with what
she said? She was telling the truth, wasn’t she? Paul and Silas were indeed
servants of the Most High God, and they were proclaiming the way of salvation.
But I want you to see this: For many days, the girl kept saying, “These men
are…These men are…These men are…” And this greatly annoyed Paul, so much so
that he cast the demon out of her (Acts 16:18). Why was Paul so annoyed?
Because the girl was constantly putting the spotlight on him and Silas. The
devil always wants us to put our attention on man, instead of God!
My friend, if you are the sort who gets flattered easily,
people can control you. All they have to do is say some nice things about you
and you are influenced into doing whatever they want you to do. But when you
are passionate for the glory of Jesus, you can’t be swayed by the praises of
man. You want only Jesus to get all the glory.
So always point people to Jesus. He alone deserves all
the glory. You’ll never be shortchanged, my friend, when you do this—God will
take care of those who exalt His Son!
BLESSINGS
JOSEPH PRINCE
