3/28 Through the Bible in Devotions

John 7

“For there is no man that doeth any thing in secret, and he himself seeketh to be known openly. If thou do these things, shew thyself to the world.” (v. 4)

The brothers of Jesus sought to tempt Him into glorifying Himself, but Jesus saw through their ruse, and did not openly go to the feast. Compare this with Jesus’ statement in v. 18, where Jesus plainly states that a man will speak only of himself when he is seeking the glory of men, but the true man of God speaks of the glory of God, and puts himself in the background. We have a lot of preachers today who seem to seek the glory of men, while with their mouths, they feign to give glory into God the Father. Many of these television evangelists are in this category. They have a ministry, “unto the Lord” as they claim, but the fame becomes their own, and the name that is on the lips of men is theirs, and not the Lord’s! People flock to see them, and not Jesus, it seems, and they receive the true glory instead of the Lord. In our passage, the brethren of the Lord spoke right, most men seek their own glory, and not seek to glorify another. Perhaps this is why Jesus told some of them not to broadcast what He had done when He healed them or performed some other great miracle, (Mt 8:4 for example).

Our pride is our greatest enemy, and is often our downfall when it comes to “walking in the spirit”. So much is done today for the glory of self rather than the glory of God that we can hardly determine which is which. Be careful of this bane to men, it is a destroyer of decency and dignities. We often cloak our pride with “fancy” talk, but in our hearts we seek the glory of men, and a good reputation among them. Our words do not often condemn us because they are “chosen” carefully lest we fall under the scrutiny and reproach of our fellow man, but, while we sound spiritual and obtain the respect and praise of others, we condemn ourselves before God (in a matter of speaking). We know how to “talk the talk” as many of the aforementioned tv evangelists do, but our desire is for filthy lucre, and self exaltation. The more popular a man becomes, the more “fame” he enjoys, and with fame comes money and glory. Some will no doubt differ with me here and say, “oh but so-and-so is a good man, he preaches the gospel and is ‘right down the line’ in his doctrine” but he still receives the glory under the guise of “reaching the multitudes”. I do not know them all, neither do I condemn them all, but I say that there are very, very few that we would consider “genuine.” Christ was not ostentatious in His preaching, nor was He seeking to make a name for Himself, but He did seek to reach the multitudes. Study His life, and His preaching, and the “where” and “when” of the matter, and learn of Him.