Let someone else praise you, and not your own mouth. Proverbs 27:2
When you are invited, take the lowest place, so
that when your host comes he will say to you, “Friend, move up to a better
place”. Luke 27:10
We were on holiday once when our two boys were little.
Looking for a church on the Sunday morning we found one that informed the world,
via its notice-board, that it was “your
welcoming church!”.
Sounds good! we thought. That’ll do us just nicely. There’s
nothing like a friendly welcome when you’re in a strange place, is there?
Well, nobody spoke to us – apart from the person on
official “door duty”. Not a soul. Huh! we thought - some welcome!
(I might as well add that as we were driving away we
discovered that our older son had a toy car in his hot little fist, presumably
purloined from the creche; and that, alas, we felt not a shred of guilt or
remorse, nor the remotest desire to swing round and restore it, wicked souls
that we are. Oh well, if one day we get done for receiving stolen goods, we’ll
just have to accept it…)
Proverbs 27:2 is talking about individuals “blowing their
own trumpet”, as we sometimes say. But it applies also to churches, as we
discovered. (And not just churches: I once visited a major hospital which had a
massive slogan on its outer wall: “Delivering
quality health care”. And I thought to myself “Hang on a minute, isn’t
that what all hospitals are supposed to do as a matter of course? Is it
really a cause for boasting?”)
What my gripe comes down to is one of my pet hate-words: image.
The big question in many people’s minds is not “What kind of person am I?” or
“Do I always aim to do what is honest, good and right?”, but “How do I appear
to others?”, “What do people think of me?”, “Do I make a good impression?” We
want to be admired and praised – never mind whether or not we deserve it. And if
a bit of boasting helps do the trick, so be it.
Perhaps you’re honestly not like that – in which case, my
apologies, and please ignore everything I say. But I have a suspicion you’re
fairly rare.
Why is it wrong to draw attention to our own qualities and
achievements? There are various reasons.
First, we simply aren’t capable of seeing ourselves as we
truly are, so what’s the point of bigging ourselves up? In our folly, we
imagine we are better, cleverer, wittier, more attractive than we really are.
If only we knew what other people say behind our backs!
Second, it’s a waste of time and effort. We may at first
succeed in impressing someone who doesn’t know us very well; but don’t worry,
the real you or me will soon begin to show through, like grey hair when
the dye is wearing off. Truth will out!
Third, it shows wrong priorities in life. If we’re
Christians, what matters is how God sees us, not any fellow human being.
That doesn’t mean we should be indifferent to the opinion of others; not at
all. But at the end of the day, God knows every last thing about us, so why
waste time and energy trying to create a good impression? I heard it said once
that there are just two basic, simple rules about what it means to be a
Christian: Be like Christ - and be yourself. Yup, I’ll go along with
that!
Fourth, if we are Christians our main concern should be to
point others to Christ, not to ourselves. I love the words of John the Baptist,
when his followers were unhappy about people turning to Jesus rather than to him.
Don’t worry! he told them, “He must become greater; I must become less” (or,
as the King James Version puts it, “He must increase; I must decrease”).
Fifth, it can be very exhausting to be daily “keeping up
appearances”. By the same token, it’s liberating to simply be who we are.
Here are two quotations from nineteenth century
evangelists.
First, Englishman C H Spurgeon: “Be not proud of race,
face, place or grace”.
And then American Dwight L Moody: “God sends no-one away
empty except those who are full of themselves”.
I said “image” was a pet hate-word of mine. So too is the
word “marketing” when applied to churches – that church we visited was in
essence trying to market itself to the neighbourhood. But what a waste of time!
The only marketing a church needs is a cheerful, Christlike holiness among its
members. Isn’t that why Jesus called those who were to lead his church “pastors”
– shepherds – not managers or CEOs?
Jesus, take me as I am,/ I can come no other
way./ Take me deeper into you,/ Make my flesh-life melt away./ Make me like a precious
stone,/ Crystal-clear and finely honed,/ Life of Jesus shining through,/ Giving
glory back to you. Amen. Dave Bryant
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