For the last couple of weeks we took a detour to update you on the Missions Trip. You can read parts 1, 2,3 & 4 of this blog by clicking on the Archives link on the left hand side of your screen or the Older Entries link at the bottom of the page.
God wants us to grow up and mature! To review -One mark of maturity is valuing spiritual things ahead of natural things. Another mark of maturity is a deadness to censure of praise. The third mark of maturity we looked at was how to handle correction. Now let’s look at the fourth mark – handling positive praise!
4. Handling Praise
When you are gifted and anointed by God, people will be helped, encouraged, restored, healed, and blessed through your ministry. When this occurs, very often you will receive praise.
“You are so anointed.”
“You are so special”.
“You are so wise.”
It is a good thing for people to be thankful but we must be careful to not take the credit and to recognize why we are able to help in the first place.
Peter and John give us a good example of directing the praise for good works back to God. In Acts 3, they were used by God to raise the cripple man at the gate Beautiful. God healed the man and the people watching were astonished.
Acts 3:9-12 And all the people saw him walking and praising God. Then they knew that it was he who sat begging alms at the Beautiful Gate of the temple; and they were filled with wonder and amazement at what had happened to him. Now as the lame man who was healed held on to Peter and John, all the people ran together to them in the porch which is called Solomon’s, greatly amazed. So when Peter saw it, he responded to the people: “Men of Israel, why do you marvel at this? Or why look so intently at us, as though by our own power or godliness we had made this man walk?
The people started to elevate Peter and John because they were used to heal the lame man. Peter quickly corrected their thinking. “This did not happen because of us, It was God!”
Peter could have responded, “That is right, you better recognize this power we have.” “We are some bad men.” Peter could have taken the credit but because he was mature, he directed it back to God.
Does giving the credit to God minimize our gifts or anointing? How did Jesus and Paul respond to praise? We’ll look at the answer to these two questions in next week’s blog!