“And upon a set day Herod, arrayed in royal apparel, sat upon his throne, and made an oration unto them. And the people gave a shout, saying, It is the voice of a god, and not of a man. And immediately the angel of the Lord smote him, because he gave not God the glory: and he was eaten of worms, and gave up the ghost.”
Acts 12:21-23 KJV
Herod, a ruler under Caesar, got up to make a speech dressed in royal attire. After his speech the people begin to give him high amounts of praise. He was proud, and willing to be flattered. He sought their applause. He did not give God the glory instead he received the worship that was due to God. Herod was a Jew and because of that knew the true God and was also aware of the evils of idolatry. Hence, he was judged.
One of the problems with us “Christians” (and I use the term loosely) is we are constantly promoting ourselves. You definitely have the right to be confident in your abilities. You have a right to be proud of your accomplishments. But no real glory should ever go to man.
Man was created by God. Yes, man was created in the image of God, but man was created to worship God. We should not worship our mates. We should not worship our parents. We should not worship our children. In no way should man ever be worshipped. Worshipping man would insist we are equal with God which couldn’t be further from the truth.
God honors humility, a humble spirit. God does not honor pride. Pride is one of the elements of sin. When we are prideful (different than being proud of your self) you start to believe that you are accomplishing things by your own strength. In a sense yes, you are naturally doing things in your own strength, but not without God.
I don’t care how many degrees you have behind your name, what area you are an expert in, how many cars and houses you own, what your credit score is, how many successful businesses you run or how much money is in your account, NONE OF THIS equates to who God is and what he can do. There’s no comparison. Everything I named is temporal. God is eternal.
So when you are riding the wave of success and people are complimenting you, giving you kudos, encouraging you, admiring you, requesting knowledge from you, keep your head small and remain humble. When people are seeking answers, a remedy or some relief from this world and they come to you because they see something in you, the biggest mistake you can make is to give them YOU. In the grand scheme of things, who are you really, but a fragile person that God shaped in iniquity? Instead tell them about the matchless and sovereign GOD you serve! The glory always goes to God. So don’t ever give them you, give them God.