Loving the Praise of Man?

"for they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God." - John 12:43

In this brief phrase, we find a sad commentary on some of the Pharisees who did believe in Jesus. They had come to believe in Him but they did not let others know for fear of being put out of the synagogue and because they loved the praise of men more than the praise of God.

There are many ways that this translates out to our everyday lives. The first one is obvious, being we choose not to talk about our faith or confess Jesus around others because we don't want to look foolish in front of our friends or family. We don't want our co-workers to think we are some sort of "Jesus freak" or "fanatical" and therefore we hold our tongues and let them think we are just a good moral person rather than a Christian.

But I think the subtle ways we show this are less obvious. When we pump up numbers in our church or ministry (in other words, we say we have more than who really comes out), we may love the praise of man more than the praise of God. When we try to compare numbers in our ministries, we may love the praise of man more than the praise of God. When we climb over others to get to the top, we may love the praise of man more than the praise of God. When we let "slip" how much time we've spent in prayer or the Word this week when no one asked, we may love the praise of man more than the praise of God. When we donate large amounts of money to get recognized, we may love the praise of man more than the praise of God.

We need to make sure everything we say and do is for the praise of God and not for our own praise. When we take the place of a servant, serving unnoticed and not looking for recognition, we probably love the praise of God more than the praise of man. When we pray for those who curse us rather than attack back, we probably love the praise of God more than the praise of man. When we give with no recognition wanted or needed, we may love the praise of God more than the praise of man. And when we reach out to those people who go unnoticed because they aren't "important" enough to minister to (i.e. they won't get us recognition in the church - like children's ministry, nursing home ministy, etc.), we probably love the praise of God more than the praise of man.

Lord, may all I say and do be for Your glory and not mine.