Our local newspaper recently ran an expose on a high-ranking public official whose impressive resume helped garner an impressive salary.

The problem was, according to the paper, the resume made claims that others could not substantiate – and the allegation – of someone taking the credit for the work of another – goes into the all too familiar annals of human misgivings that every one of us know well.

In fact, it’s something Jesus ran into in this Sunday’s Gospel – when he warns his followers that the corrupt religious elite have lost touch with who’s really in charge, and who should really be getting the credit.

After all, the temptation to take credit for something we didn’t do is one of the most alluring and pervasive enticements there is. We think we’ll improve our reputations and make ourselves the envy of others. However, it often does the opposite.

Claiming false tribute, to one degree or another, corrupts us. It can turn us into conceited, selfish, and unloving people who convince ourselves we are more than really are. We wonder how the architects of modern atrocities, from Hitler to Hussein, ever rose to power and we see, at the center, people who have convinced themselves, and others, of their invaluable self-worth.

The truth is that in relative comparison, we are nothing and God is everything.

There is nothing that has come to us that we can take credit for. Every breath, thought, new idea, and innovative business venture, is a gift from above. And the more in touch we are with the reality of our own giftedness, the more grounded, healthy, and devoted to God we will be.

In what ways are we quick to take credit and slow to acknowledge the true source of all we are and have? In what ways does our sense of entitlement, versus our sense of humility, shape our lives? How are we being called to look less at ourselves, and more at God?

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Reading

The End of Overeating – David Kessler

Growing an Engaged Church – Al Winseman

Missional Communities – Reggie McNeal