John 5:41-47
"I do not accept praises from men, but I know you. I know that you do not have the love of God in your hearts. I have come in my Father's name, and you do not accept me; but if someone else comes in his own name, you will accept him, How can you believe if you accept praises from one another, yet make no effort to obtain the praise that comes from only God."
Jesus rebuked the Pharisees for a different reason here: they accepted praises from one another instead of seeking for the praises from God. This is such a common practice in the church today: we often seek praises from one another. Perhaps you may deny ,"No, we do not seek praises from one another, and we do not dare to talk about things of this nature." Let's ask ourselves genuinely , "What is our intention in serving God?" Often times, we serve God just to satisfy our desire to serve; or perhaps hoping that we may be perceived spiritual. If nobody ever sings our praises, or if we have served for a long time, and yet nobody even responded with a word of thank you , what would your reaction be?
Quite often we become bitter when we serve because our intention is not for God only , but for ourselves. When Jesus was at the house of Mary, Martha was distracted with much serving, and when she saw Mary sitting by the Lord's feet listening to His word, she was unhappy and said, "'Lord, do You not care that my sister has left me to serve alone?" In fact, when you start noticing that you are the only one serving, you eyes are no longer fixed upon the Lord, but on yourself instead. As a result, you become bitter and tired as we are looking for attention and praises from others. If we do not serve with the right intention, we may feel tired easily, nor do we get the glory as we are constantly seeking attention from others. This is something that the Lord would deal with accordingly.
In serving God, we want to serve only Him. With this attitude, we would never be affected under any circumstance nor would we fall into the deceptions and accusations of our enemies; we would persevere as a result. Jesus explained the reason why people seek praises from one another but not from God, and that is because God's love is not in their hearts. Often times, we have our own selfish, self-serving love, but God's love is selfless. Whenever your heart is filled with God's love, your love for God and people around you would endure. May God showers us with His love.
Pray with Pastor Tong
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