Today's Devotional

July 30, 2004

Subject:  Stuff, Status And Gifts

Acts 12:21 - 23 "And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them.  And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man.  And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost."

Well there you have it.  King Herod has got his nice duds on - his royal apparel.  He is seated in his high and lofty position on the throne and he's bellowing out his refined oratorical decrees.  Wow, were the people impressed.  He is "the man!"  He speaks as one of the gods so you know he's got it going on.  He's riding pretty high right about now and WHAM!!!!  The angel knocks him dead on the spot because he was high on himself and not at all high on the person who gave him the "stuff, status and gifts."  

How many of us are living that way today and don't even realize it?  We're so proud of what we've attained.  Because of our hard work, we've got a larger house than our parents.  We've got nicer cars than we could have ever expected and our closets are jammed full of the finest apparel that money can buy.  All the things that you can buy covers all of the "stuff" in our lives.  

Then there's the "status."  When we look at our position, is it something "special" to us?  Do we feel like it places us on a proverbial throne where we can look down at others?  Does it keep us from communicating with others because we are so high and lifted up? Has our position or status in life left us with a certain sense of pride?  How do we use our "status?"   

And finally there are the "gifts."  God gives them to us to be used for His purposes, but what are we doing with them?  Are we using them to show the world how good we are or how awesome God is?  Clearly King Herod had impressed the people, so he had to be feeling pretty good.  Yea, that lasted for a little while.

When you get to the end of the analysis what you will undoubtedly realize is that while the people in this world may ooh and awe about your "stuff, status and gifts" God is not impressed.  Don't make the angel smite you.  Place the glory squarely where it belongs, i.e. on the giver of "stuff, status and gifts," our Holy God.  Give Him all of the glory today.

Carlen