Put The Praise Where It Belongs

"But so that we may not offend them, go to the lake and throw out your line. Take the first fish you catch; open its mouth and you will find a four-drachma coin. Take it and give it to them for my tax and yours." Matthew 17:27

I heard a sermon this past Sunday that mentioned this particular verse in the Bible. It's at the end of Matthew 17, after a little discussion Jesus had with Peter about paying taxes. What the Pastor mentioned about this verse really struck a chord with me. He was talking about giving God the glory for the wondrous things we see done in his name, and not the person behind the wonders. Right here, Jesus performed a miracle by providing tax money from the mouth of a fish. What do you suppose the response was? I can tell you that Jesus and Peter did not bow down and start praising the fish for providing them with their coin. The fish was simply a tool to be used by God as a means of provision, it's God who gets the glory for the coin being there, not the fish.

As another way of looking at it, people came to John the Baptist to be baptized, to hear the words of the Lord, to hear him talk about the coming King. When they were in the presence of John the Baptist, the people worshipped God with him, they didn't worship him instead.

"People went out to him from Jerusalem and all Judea and the whole region of the Jordan. 6Confessing their sins, they were baptized by him in the Jordan River." Matthew 3:5-6

Sometimes I think we just get really caught up in making sure that people are recognized for their talents and what they do. We live in an age where awards are constantly being handed out for greatness, whether they be for best picture, best songwriter, or the Nobel peace prize. Instead of honoring the people for their actions, shouldn't we be honoring God? Shouldn't we be thanking God and praising him for using these people? We can thank the people responsible for allowing God's work to be done through them, and we need to remember to pray for these people who are willing servants as well, but the glory should go to God. We should be praising God for the abilities we have, not ourselves. I think it's important to remember that, that when we do something in Jesus' name, it's not us who is doing it, it is God working through us. We need to put the praise back where it belongs, and that's on the One who made all things possible.