April 12 - Public Enemy #1

Read today’s texts first: 1 Samuel 13; 1 Chronicles 2,3; 2 Corinthians 12

MAXIMize YOUR DAY
 
Those who crave the spotlight on the outside
often have darkness spreading on the inside.

While our reputation is important, it can never be our focus. The only way we can develop a reputation for integrity is by prioritizing our relationship with God. If we become a people pleaser instead of a God pleaser, we are heading toward a life of hypocrisy and our own self destruction. The contrast between King Saul and King David illustrates the difference.

Saul was the people’s choice. He was tall, dark and handsome (9:2), literally head and shoulders above the competition, and he quickly gained popularity as King (11:12-14). Now Saul started out right, humbled at being chosen as a leader (9:21), anointed by God (10:1), filled with God’s Spirit (10:9,10), and dependent on His leading when he began to fight for His people (11:6).

But soon our number one enemy, pride, began to replace God in Saul’s heart. He became more concerned about his public image than his personal relationship with God. In today’s reading we see two of the common symptoms of pride: taking credit away from others (13:3,4), and making excuses for sin, justifying, even spiritualizing his reasons (13:11,12). This was the beginning of the end for Saul (13:13,14), as God begins to look for “a man after his own heart,” who we learn later is David (more about him in the days ahead).

David illustrates how we develop a reputation for integrity, by pursuing God’s heart and letting Him take care of our reputation. When we concern ourselves with our public image by kissing babies, making speeches, spinning press conferences, and covering up sins and weaknesses, we soon see a growing disparity between who we are and who people think we are. Those who crave the spotlight on the outside often have darkness spreading on the inside.

It’s called hypocrisy (play-acting) and it can be a chronic problem for Pharisees, politicians, kings, and preachers! When we spend our mornings primping in the mirror instead of examining our soul, we are heading for self-destruction (Prov. 16:18). “Lord, my prayer today echoes Paul’s words: You  said to me, ‘My grace is sufficient for you, for my power is made perfect in weakness.’ Therefore I will boast all the more gladly about my weaknesses, so that Christ’s power may rest on me (12:9).”