Reformed Doctrine Daily Devotions

As some of you may know, I am daily reading through Scripture in its order.  Today’s devotion was very short, Acts 12:20-25.  In this section, Herod was giving a speech to the people.  “The people kept crying out, “The voice of a god and not of a man!”.  Acts 12:22.

 

The key verse is the very next verse, Acts 12:23:  “And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.” 

 

It is interesting to note that this Scripture does not here state anything that Herod did in response to the people’s praise.  The following verse only states that Herod did not give God the glory. 

 

Last night, many of us watched American Olympic swimmer Michael Phelps win his eighth gold medal.  I watched two interviews:  one right after the swim by the pool and one later in the studio when he was interviewed by NBC host Bob Costas.  Michael was humble both times, basically saying he was speechless and later giving credit to his teammates.  My first reaction was favorable that he did not give glory to himself.

 

But, today after reading Acts 12:23, I am reminded that we are called to do more.  We are called to give glory to God.

 

Let me be the first to say I fall short of giving the glory to God many times.  Like Michael, some times I may be humble and give credit to others, but I then still do not give credit to God.  But, other times I am like Herod;  I say or do nothing in response to people’s praise.  Some times, I am even worse than Herod.  In response to people’s praise, I will say and do things to expressly give the glory to myself.  Other times, I may even be worse;  I may ask for more glory for myself than the people are offering.  God, please forgive me for the variety of these sins and the extent of these sins.

 

This Scripture should both convict us and inspire us.  It should convict us of our sins as I have been convicted and confessed.  It should also inspire us to give God the glory in all that we do and say, and even as in Herod’s case, in what we think. 

 

There are many, if not countless, times in which we should give glory to God.  I will just mention three times.  When someone talks about evolution or “mother nature”, do we speak up to refer to it as “God’s creation”?  When someone talks about salvation, do we speak up to point out what God has done such as “unconditional election”, “Christ’s limited atonement”, “God’s irresistible grace”, and/or “God’s preservation of the saints”?  When someone praises us, do we focus on ourselves, others, or on God?  We should give God the glory in all that we do, say, and even think.