Credit Where Credit is Due

Giving credit where credit is due. I shared on my Facebook recently how I had the privilege of overhearing my niece answer a simple question from her tennis coach.  The coach asked who is responsible for the nice weather we are having for tennis. My niece simply replied, ‘God’ as the other children claimed they were responsible for the nice weather.  As I overheard this conversation my heart welled with joy. For the first time I heard my niece start the steps to evangelism. She may not have given the full Gospel, but simply giving the credit to God out loud can still bear witness to the other children. You never know what seeds are being planted. When things are good and perfect we tend to take the claim and fame for ourselves instead of giving God the credit and spending time praising Him.

 

Often we find ourselves giving our attention to God only when there is a laundry list of prayer requests.   In the Old Testament, the Israelites fell into this same trap. When life was good they ignored God and when life was bad they ran to God. After being saved from captivity or war or famine they would turn from God. They had a yo-yo faith.

 

I find myself guilty of this yo-yo faith. In times when life is good I neglect my quiet time for whatever reasons. Perhaps it is busyness or I think I am good right now faith wise.  The cost of that neglect is that my faith shrinks and I become like a withered plant that has not been watered. But, more than that, when I find myself in the midst of a storm and try to come back to the faith I had before I am faced with a much steeper climb. My habits are harder to gain back.  Sure, I am a little rusty and can be polished back up. Yet, my faith is shaken with excuses, fear, lies fill me to the point where I say why bother? I have let pride enter my heart to believe I could do life without God.

 

As we neglect God and giving Him credit and time for the beautiful things we lose our godly habits. We allow room for the enemy to tear us up with pride and then with fear and lies. Proverbs 16:18 reminds us, “Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.” When we forget to give God credit and take the credit ourselves we are taking the steps of pride, which leads to destruction. The Israelites can attest to this.

 

I am not saying the other children were prideful or my niece is some kind of saint. They were just being cute children, but they can be a reminder to us. On one hand we can take what seem like harmless steps such as neglecting quiet time in times of good or taking the applause for accomplishments instead of pointing back to God. Or we can choose to have a humble heart to give God the credit for the good in our life, even the weather, and not stop praising Him. We should make the choice to not let our laundry list be what causes us to run to God, but the good as well.  

 

Someone once told me when you feel distant from God it is you that has moved away from God. We are the yo-yos, not God. He is the same yesterday, today and tomorrow. We are what changes whether for good or bad. It can be steps toward God or away from God. In the good times it can be easy to think life is good so I am not in need of God. Yet, as I have experienced in my life, it is in the times of good that I need to be drawing that much closer to God to protect my heart from pride.

 

I challenge you next time you receive praise for your first response to be not to me, but to God be the glory. To say a prayer of thanksgiving rather than one of pleas and requests.