From The Pastorès Pen – By Brian Horrobin
The great poet, T.S. Eliot, is credited with the following statement: “Most of the trouble in the world is caused by people wanting to be important.”
Whether you agree with that observation, or not, you have to admit that there seems to be a fair amount of truth to it.
This is not a new problem.
Wherever you find people you will find those who fall into this category.
Just who or what actually determines what’s important, anyway, and why do we clamour after it so much?
Professional athletes who feel they are more important demand higher salaries than the players around them.
I have always wondered if this makes for some awkward moments in the dressing room.
Some politicians vie for cabinet positions that they feel are owed to them.
Even children on a schoolground can feel as if they are more important if they wear the right clothes or have the latest phone.
There is an antidote to all of this, though.
The apostle Paul gives some superb advice in Romans 12:3, where we read: “For by the grace given me I say to every one of you: Do not think of yourself more highly than you ought, but rather think of yourself with sober judgement, in accordance with the faith God has distributed to each of you.”
Many years ago I received a very abrupt and embarrassing lesson in this area.
I was having a conversation with a lady from another church regarding some tasks I had completed that affected her role in her church.
When I was done sharing she looked me straight in the eye and asked, “Do you want a medal, or a chest to put it on?”
I had never heard that idiom before but, let me tell you, I got her message loud and clear!
God has given each of us abilities and talents that He wants us to use to be a blessing to others.
BUT (and this is a very important ‘but’), He doesn’t want us to draw the attention to ourselves.
Let’s remember that this week.
I’m off to the gym to go work on that chest of mine!
