How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and do not seek the glory that comes from the only God?

John 5:44

Many even of the authorities believed in him, but for fear of the Pharisees they did not confess it, so that they would not be put out of the synagogue; for they loved the glory that comes from man more than the glory that comes from God.

John 12:42–43

I listened to a message by Dave Harvey today entitled, “Wired for Glory”. Dave challenges us to live for the glory that matters most—God’s. One part of the sermon really hit me, though.

I fear the opinions of others because I crave their approval. When I get it, I am elated. But even then, the satisfaction of this glory never lasts. When I do not get the approval of others, I become sullen, anxious, or discouraged. So I try harder to gain the treasure of others’ esteem. Some would call this people-pleasing. The Bible calls this idolatry. Why would it say such a thing? Dave Harvey explains:

We all know what it’s like to fear embarrassment, which is really only an excessive concern with how we’re being perceived by other people. And we’re like that at times, even as Christians, because it wins us what we most value.

I seek what I value most. Seeking praise from men instead of praise from God shows that I value praise from men more than praise from God. Stop reading for a second and let that sink in. That, friends, is the heart of idolatry. Idolatry is ascribing greater worth to anything besides God. We might not do this openly, but we do it in our hearts when we desire anything more than God.

There is a pattern that is always at work: valuing leads to seeking. It is not hard to find this pattern in the Bible. Turn to Matthew 13:44–46. What is the kingdom of God like? It is like a man who found a treasure hidden in a field. Here we see the man realizing the value of something. It is a treasure to him. Then he sold all he had and bought the field. Here we see the man seeking what he valued. He gave up everything to gain his treasure.

I seek the praise of men because I value the praise of men. When I seek this type of praise, I begin to fear what others think of me. Does this pattern show up in your life? The way you can tell what you value is by what you seek. How do you know if you seek the approval of others too much? Observe your response when others do not notice you, or when they are critical of you. Do you then become sullen? Do you become angry? Do you replay the scene in your mind over and over? Do you keep wishing you had said or done something different so that others would have thought more highly of you? You can also test your reaction when others do approve of you. Do you become excited? Do you feel satisfied? Do you give yourself credit, rather than credit God? Do you feel proud?

The remedy for the fear of man is to seek the glory that comes from God. But how do we come to seek the glory that comes from God? We value the glory that comes from God. But how do we do that?

We have left a step in the process out of our pattern. So far, we see that valuing leads to seeking. How do we come to value something? We behold it.

We value the approval of others because we behold it so regularly. That is the air we so often breathe in this culture and in our own lives. We can experience a change of values by beholding God’s glory. We see His glory in His world, His work, His Word, and His Son. I’ll write more about that soon!

Tags: change, fear of man, glory, God, Jesus, seeking, values