I have been reading 1 Samuel this past week. Samuel’s
miraculous birth, his ministering to the Lord before He actually knew the Lord,
(Something to be grasped) the rejection of God by the people and the honored
request to be like all of the other nations and serve under a king. (There is
another great nugget of truth there also). King Saul started out very humble,
even was among the prophets, but fear and face
got in the way of totally trusting in the Lord and it cost him and his descendants
the kingdom.
One of my favorite mentors, he is a friend really but
when given the chance will speak into my life. During a very dark period of my
life this friend challenged my identity, challenged my performance-motivated
pursuit of life. Most of us do not like and try to avoid failure at all costs.
For some, it is an unspoken competition that is played inside the head while
others will overtly taunt and wager. The bottom line though is still the same,
I not only want to be “better” than you, but I don’t want to fail in the
process. My goal is to look better than you, without you even knowing my true
intentions. So much for my internal and now exposed dysfunction. (I know what
you are thinking…just one of many)
Let’s see how this plays out
in the life of king Saul.
We don’t see Saul being a blessed king for very long.
He is found hiding among the luggage at his inaugural crowning, prophesizes
with a few prophets and then does a huge blunder by totally disobeying God. He
starts of in chapter 13 by offering the sacrifice that Samuel the true Prophet was
to do. Next he makes a foolish oath about fasting that almost got his son
Jonathan killed. The final straw we see in chapter 15 where he disobeys the
Lord by not totally destroying the Amalekites and then takes the choice
plunder. When you read the text as I strongly encourage you to do, you see how
Saul was motivated by fear and “face”. Saul claimed that his actions where
motivated by the and for the Lord, but in reality he was more concern how he
would look to the people. In fact, when you read on you see his beef with David
was all about what the people said about the two mighty men. Saul was all about
performance as his mode of fulfillment. Pleasing people was first and foremost
on his mind even though he claimed to do it for the Lord. Do you know any
people like that?
So why do you do what you do? Is it to please your
boss, your co-workers, neighbors, friends, parent/s, spouse, children etc.? Now
answer that question truthfully. I have even heard people say they don’t want
their church to look bad. Think about that statement for a moment. We are the
church, and not the building or organization you frequently attend. Since Jesus
is the “head of the church” shouldn’t we desire to honor Him, please Him, and
not make Him look bad? When we honor and obey Jesus when we strive to protect
His image (even though He doesn’t need our help) and desire to mirror Him; that
is called worship. (Romans 12:1-2) We will either worship the god that we have
created or the God who created us. So the overriding question is whose image
are you protecting yours, your church’s, your pastor’s, your boss’s, or your
Lord Jesus Christ? The real answer to that question will determine the
direction your life takes.
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