Am I another 'Jack the Ripper'?

Give God the glory due to Him!

Psalm 29:1-2 NIV
Ascribe to the Lord, you heavenly beings, ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. [2] Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; worship the Lord in the splendor of his holiness.

Here God's Word addresses us as heavenly beings and we are rightly so. God through the psalmist is speaking to our spirits...

These verses command us to give God all the glory due to Him. The glory of our every accomplishment does not belong to us. It belongs to God Almighty and Him alone.  It is when we take the credit for the accomplishments upon ourselves that we lose our right standing before God. We displease Him. We sadden Him. We take God's glory upon ourselves as if it is by our own strength we did it and we begin to puff up with pride and believe me, that will mark the beginning of our downfall.

That is what happened to Lucifer before he fell off from God's throne room in heaven. Whoa! This is so scary because every time someone congratulates me, or praises me I have to remain humble and ascribe all glory to  God.

What I do externally does not matter. What matters is the condition of my heart. God judges me by the motive of my heart. I can just tell them, "All glory to God! I am just His servant. Just doing what I have to do," But in my heart if I puff up, get so happy and prideful when I am praised and do further good things just to get attention or praise from others, then again I am secretly stealing God's glory. I must examine my heart and my motives every moment to be in right  standing before God.

Jesus said in Matthew 6:1-4 NIV
“Be careful not to practice your righteousness in front of others to be seen by them. If you do, you will have no reward from your Father in heaven. [2] “So when you give to the needy, do not announce it with trumpets, as the hypocrites do in the synagogues and on the streets, to be honored by others. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full. [3] But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing, [4] so that your giving may be in secret. Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.

Whether we give money to the needy or physically help someone in anyway or even support someone emotionally and even when we lead someone to Christ, we must constantly examine our motives. We must ask ourselves the following questions:-
1. Why am I doing this?( if for recognition, fame or material or worldly gain then I better stop)
2. What do I gain from doing this? ( if the answer is material or worldly gain, then again if I am doing it just for the material or worldly gain, I lose all my credits before God. I receive my reward in full on earth and none in heaven.)
3. How can I be of help to this person to get closer to God through Christ Jesus?
4. How can I share this testimony without being boastful and without ripping God of His glory?
5. What do I do after sharing  this testimony?( ask God to keep me from pride and keep thanking Him for using a useless me for His Glory)

We shall glorify God through our every thought, word and action. We shall not be another, 'Jack the Ripper!'

Mary Augustine
17th March 2016