Ego and Glory

If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall. The temptations in your life are no different from what others experience. And God is faithful. He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand. When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you can endure. (1 Corinthians 10:12-13 [NLT])

Many people look at these two verses and read, “God is faithful and won’t give you more than you can handle.” That is all they recall. I believe that is what Satan wants them to recall. But there is more to this passage. We must begin at the beginning of the chapter to understand fully what God wrote through Paul.

In the first eleven verses of this chapter, Paul reminded the Corinthians of the Israelites’ history. He reminded them how God had guided them by a cloud and how He had parted the sea so they could walk on dry ground to escape Pharaoh’s army. Paul recalled for them how the Israelites ate and drank the food and water God sent for them each day. Then he explained anew how these same people whom God rescued displeased God. The Israelites worshipped idols, complained about food and drink, celebrated with feasting and drinking and pagan revelry that included sexual immorality. God responded to these people with faithfulness and disciplined them and removed the ones who led others astray. He sent snakes to bite the sinners and the angel of death to remove them from among the Israelites.

The point Paul made with this recollection of the history of Israel is they put God to the test. He told the Corinthians they should not put Christ to the test. They should not test God’s patience and faithfulness to us just as those who died from snakebites did. What God did to the Israelites for discipline purposes were examples to the Corinthians and us so we would not challenge God with our rebellion. Paul said in verse eleven, “These things happened to them as examples for us. They were written down to warn us who live at the end of the age.”

Of what does this warn us? Paul explained this in the rest of the chapter, but he gives the how in verses twelve and thirteen. In verses fourteen through thirty, he said not to give offense to others who possibly are weaker in the faith or who are not Christians by your actions. Don’t create temptations for yourself by the freedom Christ gave you and so put your guard down when you eat things that you knew people offered as sacrifices to idols. And don’t anger God by your freedom by saying “all things are permissible.” (vs. 23) Paul warned the Corinthians and us of this. You notice in these three things, each action would affect a relationship - yours with others, yours with yourself, and yours with God.

With this understanding, Paul told them how to withstand temptation. Before we understand that, we need to understand human ego. Most people think they are strong enough to stand against temptation, but if that were so, all the addicts over the history of time and wouldn’t be addicts, whether addicts of alcohol, cigarettes, drugs, porn, abuse, food, shopping, or whatever. Yet, if we truly look at human history and ourselves, we recognize, we are not strong enough to stand against all temptations. We are not Christ who stood strong against Satan’s temptations in the desert. Humans eventually collapse when faced with certain temptations in their lives. We each have weaknesses. Our egos tell us we are strong enough and can do this or that without failing, and sometimes we can. Most of the times, though, we cannot.

At this point is where Paul’s statement in verses twelve and thirteen come to play. He said, “If you think you are standing strong,” when often we are not standing strong. Paul knew humanity’s weaknesses because he recognized his own weaknesses. He had been a self-righteous Pharisee. “If you think you are standing strong, be careful not to fall.” Paul knew at some point each person succumbs to temptation and warns them not to think too highly of themselves and their capabilities. Again, with verse thirteen, he reminded them that the failures of others we see around us, their weaknesses and falling to temptations, could be us, too. We are like every other person who walked the earth. We are weak and cannot stand up to every temptation.

Paul didn’t stop at that point and cause the Corinthians or us to despair. He reminded us about God and His characteristics. Paul continued, “God is faithful. He will not allow temptation to be more than you can stand.” Notice, God is the One who is all-knowing, always faithful, and all-powerful. Paul reminded the readers of this letter they are no stronger than any other person who’s lived, but God is stronger, is strongest, is faithful, and loves us. Because of God’s faithfulness, love, and knowledge of each of us, “He will not allow the temptation to be more than you can stand.” Don’t stop at that point, though. If you do, you will interpret this passage as many secular Christians and non-Christians do, with an off-the-cuff faith. It’s like the saying you hear from people, “God’s got my back.” It requires no faith in God is required to say that. That saying doesn’t give you the strength to walk through a situation. It’s just a saying, like when people say, “God won’t allow me to experience more than I can handle.” With those statements by people, no faith or covenant with God is required to say it. Paul reminds us instead that God’s wisdom, strength, faithfulness, and love, His covenant with us as His children, that sees us through the situation.

Paul completed his thoughts on this with, “When you are tempted, He will show you a way out so that you can endure.” God is the One who makes a way. He won’t give you more than you can handle, and He will show you the way out so you can endure. The ability to withstand temptation is all about God. Paul made sure we understood that. He showed the frailties and weaknesses of humanity in verse twelve. We bring nothing to the table by which we can go through difficulties other than our faith in God, our covenant relationship with Him. God brings everything to the table for us to get through these times. He brings His knowledge, power, wisdom, love, and faithfulness that gets us through hard times. God is faithful to His covenant with His children. He will show us how to get through situations in our lives. What we bring to the table in these situations is our faith in Him and our obedience to His direction. We have no power and wisdom to get us through every trial.

God’s covenant with His children and their covenant with Him affects their relationship, and it affects their relationships with the people around them, and their relationship with themselves. Paul made sure the Corinthians and later readers understood this. When we stand strong because of God and give Him the glory, it strengthens our resolve and grows us to be more like Christ. It affects the people around us who see our trials and watch how we walk through them. When you testify and live a life of testimony to God, others grow, too. Our relationship with that person grows. This is the overarching learning point for the Corinthian Christians. Their lives should be a living testimony to the people watching them. This is what Paul meant when he said in verses thirty-one and thirty-two, “So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. Don’t give offense to Jews or Gentiles or the church of God.” Live a life of testimony giving God the glory for everything you do and all that He does in your life and it will affect other believers, non-believers, and your own life.

Paul ended this chapter with, “I don’t just do what is best for me; I do what is best for others so that many may be saved.” (vs. 33b) Satan wants to make us think we are unable to do things or that we can face things without God’s help. Satan lies.

Be faithful to God. Be true to your covenant with Him. He is always faithful to you. He will not allow a temptation to be more than you can stand and will always show you a way out so you can endure.

Whatever you do, do it all to the glory of God.

If you are not yet a child of Yahweh God, you can be by believing in Jesus Christ as your Savior and Lord. Admit you are a sinner. Believe in Jesus Christ. Confess your sins to Him. God loves you and wants to save you from your sins and death. He wants to have an eternal relationship with you.

Understand, therefore, that the LORD your God is indeed God. He is the faithful God who keeps His covenant for a thousand generations and lavishes His unfailing love on those who love Him and obey His commandments. (Deuteronomy 7:9 [NLT])

God, who has called you into fellowship with His Son Jesus Christ our Lord, is faithful. (1 Corinthians 1:9 [NLT])

Lord, so often I just push through a difficulty in my own strength and forget to ask You for Your wisdom and help. I think, “I’ve got this!” In that thinking, I have rebelled against You. Please forgive me for thinking better of myself than I am. Help me remember, You are the reason I live and am saved from sin and death. Not of my own strength, intellect, or reasoning have I survived, but only because of You. Help me to seek You and then to give You all the glory. Help me to remain totaled devoted to You. Use me to share about Your love and faithfulness to people around me. Amen.

To the Glory of God

Matthew 6 and 8 

As I read and studied these chapters, I noted Christ was making a point through all of the encounters and actions of the people, as He usually did. Jesus’ point was that everything they and we do should be done as to the Lord. Often times we are so caught up in doing we forget for whom we are doing it. We are so caught up in living life we forget who gave us this life to live. These need to be melded to a point where we realize from where we came and by whom we receive provision so we give back in actions and tangible gifts to others because God gave to us. We give glory to God in this way.

Consider Matthew 6. Each of the stories he shared talks about a part of life. The first part is giving to the poor. Jesus told them not to give to the poor so they can be seen, but give to the poor as if they were giving to God and to give in secret because God knows who is giving it to Him. What is important is their attitude, not their actions. Jesus said if they are doing their actions just to get approval from people, then they have their reward on earth to the detriment of their reward in heaven, a relationship with God. 

Jesus went further and said not to pray in a way to receive praise from people. They were praying on busy street corners loudly and elaborately. Jesus said they should be praying to continue in their relationship with God. If they were praying to be with God, they should go to a room or place by themselves and be with Him. 

Matthew continued by saying when they fast they should do so in a way that did not draw attention to them. Religious fasting was between God and them. Fasting is not a matter among men, so they did not have to be seen by men. 

Additionally, Matthew spoke of storing up produce, products, and money for a rainy day or the future, to ensure we do not have to worry about from where we will get our clothes, food, drink, and shelter. Matthew said this was unnecessary since our Creator, God, is the same God who created the birds. The birds do not worry about food, shelter, or clothing. Since God takes care of them, we can trust He will take care of us. Jesus said not to worry about our life. Anxiety does not make the worrisome part go away, trusting in God does. God, who loves us, will take care to give what we need. 

What we are to be doing is work for God, not to be seen by men, and to be in a relationship with Him, not in the public eye. It does not matter how much we show how “religious” we are, what matters is how close we are to the heart of God. If the latter is true, the above four things will occur because God’s heart through His Holy Spirit’s indwelling will show through us and our lives.

Matthew continued this similar idea in chapter 8 except he contrasted the faith of different people. In the first encounter, a leper spoke to Jesus saying if Jesus will, He can heal him (the leper). Jesus said He was willing and touched and healed him. This man had the faith to be healed. His statement as he confronted Jesus showed it as well as his willingness to go to the priests to be declared ritually clean. He did not need, for his benefit, to go to the priests to recognize he was healed, but for society and culture. They needed to hear by the priests and leaders of his healing. 

The second encounter was with a centurion, a Roman soldier. This centurion had been informed about Jesus and His healing powers and trusted the reports enough to ask Jesus to heal His servant. When Jesus listened to the story, He said He would go the centurion’s home. The centurion’s faith was strong and he felt humbled to be in Jesus’ presence. The centurion said Jesus did not need to go to his home, but just say the word and his servant would be healed. Jesus stated he had not encountered so great a faith and told the centurion to go on his way; what he had asked for had been done, as he trusted. 

After this, Jesus and his disciples went to Peter’s home where Jesus healed Peter’s mother-in-law. When they finished dinner, many sick and demon possessed people were brought to Him. He healed many and drove out many demons. Jesus cares about our temporal physical needs and our spiritual needs.  

The last section begins with this next story. Jesus, being crushed by the multitude of people, asked the disciples to get into a boat with Him and row to the other side. Before they were able to get in the boats, though, a scribe came to Jesus and said, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go” (8:19). Jesus  was aware the scribes were renowned for their knowledge of Scripture and their teaching. These men were often a part of the Sanhedrin, the supreme religious body of the nation of Israel. They were leaders used to leading and, most likely, wealthier than other Jews. Jesus confronted this man’s speedy avowal of discipleship by declaring even He, the Son of Man, did not have a place to lay His head or call His home (vs. 20). As we understand, God takes care of clothing, feeding, and sheltering His own. We do not read of this scribe joining Jesus and the other disciples. It is easy to be caught up in the emotions of the moment and say we are going to follow Jesus, but then not followthrough on our commitment. Jesus was confronting this man at his own level, what he considers necessary for life. 

After this, another disciple came and told Jesus to let him go bury his father first. Jesus told him to “let the dead, the non-believers, bury the dead. You must follow Me.” (Matthew 8:22, NASB). We do not see the man following Jesus after this. To make a lifelong commitment to follow Jesus requires letting others take care of tasks at home and letting the ministry to which God has called you and your relationship with Him be preeminent in your life. Jesus recognized this man was unable to do this that is why He confronted him on this point. 

While Jesus and the disciples were at sea, a great storm blew up and began to swamp the boat. The disciples grew very afraid. When they awoke Jesus they told Him they were perishing at sea. Jesus chastised their little faith, then calmed the storm and the sea. The disciples, just that day, had seen a great faith in the Roman centurion and had seen Jesus heal the sick and banish demons from people. When the disciples confronted Jesus in fear, Jesus remarked and reminded them again about the faith of the centurion. He now saw small faith in His Jewish disciples, who should have known Him better. Here they showed just how much they believed Jesus by saying, “What manner of man is this?” (Matthew 8:27, NASB). The centurion came with enough faith to trust without seeing; whereas, the disciples had to see, yet again, to believe. Jesus has shown this day that He is master over natural elements, spiritual realms, and physical beings. He is almighty God. In the end, Jesus and the disciples reached the other side of the sea and stood on land.

Two people possessed with demons confronted them and proclaimed Jesus as the Son of God without instigation. Even the demons acknowledged who Jesus was then, yet the disciples had trouble believing in the midst of a storm and with Jesus beside them. Jesus healed these people and cast the demons into the swine nearby which ran into the sea. 

What does this tell us? I tells us, as priority number one, we must have a growing, continual relationship with God. Once we are acquainted with the triune God without doubt and anxiety, we understand God will always take care of our needs. What we imagine we need and what God knows we need may be two different things. He knows He is going to call us to move to another country to minister there. We do not know exactly how He is going to use us. It could be we have allowed the secular influence to create unnecessary desires in us for the latest technology, food, alcohol, or smoking. None of these is necessary for life. As we read in the previous two chapters of Matthew, God fills our physical, psychical, and spiritual needs. He provides for us and defends us. We can choose to be like the scribe and be unwilling to live without specific things or we can be as the centurion who was familiar with Jesus based on stories. The centurion came to Him willing to believe even without seeing Him do the healing. 

From Chapter 6 and chapter 8 we read that giving to the poor, healing the sick or demon-possessed, and praying are not bad, but the attitude in which they are done is what determines if they are worthy as gifts of sacrifice and praise to God. Did we do each of these to honor God or ourselves? Obviously, the second is the wrong reason. In all we do, we should work so God receives the praise and glory. The only way in which we can make each of the things we do bring praise and glory to God is by offering our actions and attitudes to God as we act upon the love He has put in our hearts through the Holy Spirit. The question we ultimately must ask is: To whom did the praise go for this action? I hope you are staying in a continual relationship with God so that your actions, thoughts, and attitudes come from your interactions and love relationship with God.