GOD’S WORD FOR JULY 18 ~ ~Philippians 2:3~ ~ “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.”

“The Pleasures of God” by John Piper (Excerpts)

The third reason that God has pleasure in obedience is because disobedience shws a misplacement of praise.

When Saul had defeated the Amalekites in 1 Samuel, 14-15, the first thing he did was build himself a monument. Verse 15:12 in that book says “It was told Samuel, Saul came to Carmel and behold, HE SET UP A MONUMENT FOR HIMSELF.” Evidently Saul was more interested in getting a name for himself than in making a name for God through careful obedience to his Word. He moved the praise from God to himself.

Earlier, Saul had seemed amazed that God would choose him to be king over Israel even though he was from the smallest tribe, the tribe of Benjamin, and from the least of the families of that tribe.

He should be amazed! If he wanted honor, he SHOULD have been amazed and satisfied with the honor that God had given him. Samuel asks him, in effect,—why are you driven by a lust for human glory when God has in fact given you a glorious privilege as the head of the tribes of Israel and the anointed king of God’s people?

But Saul was not content with the glory of God and the honor of being his chosen king. He wanted his own glory and his own praise. The submissive path of obedience does not offer that kind of praise and glory, so he did things his own way in order to get his own glory.

(Is this sometimes true of us? If we’re saved, we have been given a glorious gift from God. Salvation makes us children of the King of the Universe. There is no greater honor than to serve the King, much less to be His child.

Yet, how many times do we do exactly what Saul did? We go our own way—-sometimes not by deliberate disobedience, but by not asking Him what to do, or by not studying His Word to see what path to take.

What Mr. Piper said about Saul wanting a name for himself instead of honoring the name of the Lord, is many times true of us when we think of ourselves instead of making our lives reflect the glory of God.

We already have the greatest gift that could ever be given, if we’re saved. Why would we want any worldly “honor”?

We are warned about that in the verse of the day:

~Philippians 2:3~ ~ “Let nothing be done through selfish ambition or conceit, but in lowliness of mind let each esteem others better than himself.”

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