Giving God the Credit
After the Holy Spirit gives power to Jesus’ disciples, they begin to act like Jesus. In fact, you could even say Jesus begins to act through them. In Acts 3, we read a story about how Peter and John heal a man who has been crippled his whole life. But notice how the disciples don’t act as if it’s their work. Giving God the Credit, they point out that faith in Jesus, not their piety, healed the man. But we are often tempted to do differently when God works in us.
Why do we sometimes struggle to give God propper credit for the things he does through us? The main reason is that our self-worth is at stake. The world around us teaches us that our value is tied up with accomplishment and self-reliance. So we want to be seen to do everything we can. But God values us differently than the world does. God values us based on two things. First, God made us in his image. And second, God paid everything to be with us. So God values us infinitely. But we have a hard time accepting God’s affirmation because we define our value by comparison. God invites us to accept his assessment of our value, which frees us from the need to prove anything to others. If we do that, then giving God the credit will come as second nature to us.
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