blogger, when I’m asked about page
views: You were published where?
How many copies did you sell? How
big is your site?
While the questions themselves can
be nothing more than small talk, the
value we give the answers reveals
our hearts. Oh, you got what award?
Oh, you paid how much for your
house? Oh, you were noticed by
them! While we add up details in our
minds, we tally invisible points in our
heads, creating our own little
scoreboards of who is important and
why.
But this is not the way our heavenly
Father works.
In Luke 16, Jesus tells his disciples a
parable that concludes with the
instruction “you cannot serve God
and money” (Luke 16:13), and the
Pharisees, “who were lovers of
money” (Luke 16:14), ridicule him in
response.
He introduces them to a
revolutionary value system, one
where being humanly rich - or
powerful or popular or successful - is
not what matters most, and they
laugh. “You are those who justify
yourselves before men, but God
knows your hearts,” he responds to
them. “For what is exalted among
men is an abomination in the sight of
God” (Luke 16:15).
Whether we’re talking about who
has the bigger bank account or
whose baby started sleeping through
the night first, when we look at the
things that are exalted among men
as measures of our worth, we are
behaving like the Pharisees.
We are exalting what God doesn’t
exalt. We are valuing what he
doesn’t call valuable.
Instead of anchoring our identities on
him and the fact that he, the God of
the universe, loves us, we are
seeking to justify ourselves before
men. But God knows our hearts.
What God Esteems
In contrast to our shrewd ambition
on earth, our desire to rank highly
with resumes, readerships, or skills,
consider these passages that reveal
what God calls worthy of esteem:
“His delight is not in the strength of
the horse, nor his pleasure in the legs
of a man, but the LORD takes
pleasure in those who fear him, in
those who hope in his steadfast
love.” (Psalm 147:10–11)
“For the eyes of the LORD run to and
fro throughout the whole earth, to
give strong support to those whose
heart is blameless toward him.” (2
Chronicles 16:9)
“For those who honor me I will
JASMINE'S PLACE
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