Megaphones

“What should be done for the man the king delights to honor?  Who is there that the king would rather honor than me?” Esther 6:6

Where are my steel-toed boots when I need them?  When my father-in-law was diagnosed with Alzheimer’s I began an Esther 6:6 tear in the backdrop of my heart.  There were many things that had to be done for Bruce’s dad and everyone knew when any one of them was accomplished.  I became a cheerleader with a megaphone for myself.  Yuck!  This verse is only missing one more number 6 to show who motivates the spirit of this verse…666…Satan and his posse.

God has given each of us a propensity towards His purpose for our lives.  We were not given our talents and gifts based upon our own strength and abilities.  These things come to us as we come to God.  When our tasks are motivated by God’s love and through the power of Christ great things happen in His name.  When we step out of our God-given abilities and spiritual assignments we step in to our flesh.  We use our mouths to gain self-honor instead of using our hearts to show God-honor.  Tucked near the end of the Old Testament are powerful words in Zephaniah:  ‘‘The LORD your God is with you…He will take great delight in you, he will quiet you with his love…’ Zeph. 3:17.  God will determine ‘what shall be done for the man who the King delights in.’ He will look upon our service to others with the knowledge of our heart’s motivation and determine if honor has already been recognized by our own lips.  As John 7:18 explains, ‘He who speaks on his own does so to gain honor for himself, but he who works for the honor of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him.’  One man speaks while the other man serves. 

‘Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight…no one will hear his voice in the streets…’ Matthew 12:18- 19