Some time back I wrote about Job’s entitlement mentality. I’m reading through Job again and noticed
particularly in chapter 31 how Job repeatedly says “If I have...” The first
verse of chapter 32 says, “So these three men ceased to answer Job, because he
was righteous in his own eyes.” It appears that the last time Job really had
his eyes on God in worship was in 1:21, “The Lord gave, and the Lord has taken
away; blessed be the name of the Lord.” Beginning in chapter 3, his eyes are on
himself, “After this Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.”
It’s amazing how easily we can stop focusing on God and
starting focusing on ourselves. It doesn’t take Job-like suffering to do that.
Such distraction can come from minor suffering, success, and even service. When
we’re in pain, we tend to look at the reason for our pain. C.S. Lewis wrote:
“I once read the sentence ‘I lay
awake all night with a toothache, thinking about the toothache and about lying
awake.’ That’s true to life. Part of every misery is, so to speak, the misery’s
shadow or reflection: the fact that you don’t merely suffer but have to keep on
thinking about the fact that you suffer. I not only live each endless day in
grief, but live each day thinking about living each day in grief.” (A Grief Observed).
And when things are going well and we’ve achieved some
success, we are likely to get distracted by our pride. Comfort can quickly lead
to apathy in the Christian life.
But even service can take our eyes off of God. We can get so
busy doing good things, even church activities, that we lose sight of the
purpose behind them. As Pastor Matt wrote in this week’s sermonrecap:
“Many so-called good works are
poisoned when we allow the number two command [love people] to eclipse the
number one command [love God]. The purpose of our good works is to glorify God.
This completes the circuit, closes the loop, fulfills our function. We were
created to glorify God, and this is why we do good works. Not to be seen or
praised (Matthew 6:1-17), but so that God might be seen and praised.”
In church activities in particular we run into a conundrum:
those who serve should be doing so without expectation of praise or
recognition, and yet the Body needs to have an appreciation for all that goes
on behind the scenes to make things happen. Service itself is a spiritual
discipline, knowing that we are ultimately responsible to God for how we use
the gifts He has given us. But I believe praise is also be a discipline we need
to practice—we need to be praise God for how He has supplied the Body, and we
need to express thanksgiving to people for the ways God has been able to work
through their service.
Among his many greetings to individuals in his letters, Paul
singles out three and says, “I rejoice at the coming of Stephanas and
Fortunatus and Achaicus, because they have made up for your absence, for they
refreshed my spirit as well as yours. Give recognition to such men” (1
Corinthians 16:17-18). He didn’t stop with saying thanks, but he urged the
church to take time to thank them as well.
Unfortunately, our lack of praise is another “I problem.” Some
possible reasons for it include:
- We don’t know what is being done that is worthy of praise, perhaps due to inattentiveness.
- We don’t believe it is praiseworthy, perhaps due to jealousy, pride, or judgmental attitudes.
- We don’t care enough to take the time to say thanks.
If we look around us with our eyes focused on God, it
shouldn’t be hard to see opportunities to thank others for their acts of
service. But in case we don’t get around to it, God never forgets:
“For God is not unjust
so as to overlook your work and the love that you have shown for His name in
serving the saints, as you still do.” –Hebrews 6:10
