The lights faded in as the music began to swell. I gazed across a room filled with people waiting in anticipation for those first words to be sung. The worship pastor readied himself and began to sing. Immediately, hands flew up all throughout the sanctuary. People were singing at the top of their lungs with hands held high. This wasn’t a show, these people were genuinely worshipping. As I looked at this, I thought to myself, “Who am I to be given the privilege to lead these people in worship. Who am I to be put on a platform that allows me to influence so many people on a weekly basis?” This is what I was telling myself, but in the moment, I could only feel one thing, pride. Not just pride in Christ, but pride in myself. Pride in my own abilities and talents. Pride in what I was doing for this congregation. Though I kept telling myself that I was doing this solely for Christ, week after week I came to church secretly hoping that people would notice how good I was. Every Sunday after service, I would stand there in the sanctuary as person after person would come and do just that. After a while, I began to expect this praise. I began to crave it. After enough time, if you’re not careful, it becomes far too easy to lose sight of the very reason why you started doing this. This was the cliff that I was dangerously close to going over. What had started in a desire to praise God with my talents had turned into nothing more than a way to bolster my self-esteem. This is a very dangerous place to be.
I feel that this is a place that many musicians often find themselves. Though the main purpose of playing is to praise God with our talents, there is always this longing deep within us to be praised ourselves. After putting so many hours into this craft, it’s hard not to long for a bit of affirmation. Now I’m not saying that affirmation is necessarily a bad thing, but the minute it begins to take precedent, it becomes just that. We shift from desiring to praise God, to desiring to be praised like Gods. As I said, this is a dangerous place to be.
Now the question remains, what should it look like when a person humbles themselves and gives all praise and honor directly to God? John 3:26-36 paints a very good picture this. Here, we find John the Baptist at the river baptizing as he always is. However, this time, we find that Jesus is also there baptizing. His disciples come and inform him that everyone is going to Jesus instead of him. At this point, John has two choices, get angry because he is losing the attention, or gracefully give it to the one who truly deserves it. I honestly don’t know how I would react, but John shows us exactly what we should do. Rather than try to regain what he has lost, he graciously and humbly gives it all to Jesus. He praises his name and exclaims, “He must increase, but I must decrease. He never once tried to gain praise for himself, rather, he shifted the focus from himself to the holiness and power of Jesus.
Now you may be saying, “But all John did was baptize, that doesn’t call for praise.” While you may be right, I would argue that John the Baptist had more to boast in than any of us. Matthew 11:11 states, “Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist.” Now I can’t say for certain, but I would more than likely take pride in a comment like that. I believe that it may make me feel more important that I actually am. But not John the Baptist. While he may have been the greatest to come from a woman, he realized that Jesus was that much greater. He realized that no matter how great his calling was, God was still the reason for it all, and in turn, still deserved all of the credit.
This example that John the Baptist sets is an example that we should all strive to follow. No matter how great that we perceive that we are, we must remember that God is that much greater. We have to remember that everything that has been given, has been given from the father. Because of this, we have to realize that we deserve absolutely nothing. While someone may complement our playing, or speaking, or some other gift, we have to remember that it is because of God that we have this gift. Therefore, this praise does not belong to us. It belongs to God alone. Our gifts and talents are given for one reason, and that is to exalt God. The moment we lose sight of this calling, we begin to travel down a path that leads us to a dangerous place. This place feels good. It gives us the praise that we all crave. However, once here, it’s a hard place to leave. That is why it is so important to make sure that we never reach this place. Humble yourself just as John did, and in all situation, give all praise right back to God. He deserves it.
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February 20, 2016 at 5:12 pm
Hi Brandon! What you have to say about pride is powerful. This problem is within us all. Our nature is to want attention. Deeply embedded within us is the desire to become God. We can see this in Adam and Eve when they ate of the tree of good and evil. They were not simply content being in the presence of God; they wanted more. Things have not change since then. We want the praise of people. However, we do absolutely nothing to deserve such recognition. Our gifts and abilities are given to us by the one who deserves true praise from His creation. Pride can and will kill us. John knew his role was to prepare the way for the Lord. He embraced this role and released his pride. This is one of the hardest things a person can do because we have an elevated view of ourselves in our minds. When we break away from this view, then God can truly mold us. To me, humility is one of the greatest traits a person can have. To achieve such humility is to die to ourselves. Thank you for sharing your thoughts! God Bless, Nate Holland
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February 24, 2016 at 4:20 am
Hi i am Daniel McChesney and pride is something we all struggle with. I loved the way you set up this post and wrote it in a clear and powerful way! You wrote with such a flow of thought that kept to build each sentence that came forth. The story that you used to build and set up your post is so great and gives a good way into what pride looks like in the life of someone in ministry and how John the Baptist was the opposite that in his ministry position and role. It was an amazing contrast that helped you see humility in a better light.
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May 5, 2016 at 4:38 am
I like what one responder had to say toward your blog on “Humility”. He basically said it is in our nature that we just always seem to seek attention. I couldn’t agree more. In fact, learning how to break such habit. God’s love, kindness, and greatness blows my mind when I really sit and think about it. Even with our bad habits or pride, God don’t turn his backs on us like how an earthy father may show is disappointment in his children by walking away. He deserves the praise like you said in your blog. We owe everything to God our Father. I pray that I remember to be humble and pray the same for others too. Great post on humility.
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May 5, 2016 at 8:48 pm
Wow, this was a slap in the face for me. I worship in our youth praise band back in high school, and I remember feeling just as you felt being up there on that stage. I remember when I first started leading, I was so pumped and so on fire for God. I wanted nothing more than a chance to worship. But that feeling soon led to just wanting to get up and see what I could do and see the emotions that I could make others feel. It is so important, as you stated, to remember that our abilities are given to us by God. If it was not for God gifting us with these talents, we would not be up there in the first place.
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May 6, 2016 at 1:24 am
Wow, thank you for your post! It really stuck a chord in me. This is something that has actually been on my mind for a while and I really appreciate your honesty in posting this. I’ve noticed how pride is a very dangerous thing and how it can hurt our faith and trust in God as we become more dependent on ourselves than on God. I know that for myself, pride is something I struggle with and I’ve noticed as well that what can start out as a means of glorifying God can turn into a means of glorifying ourselves. I love how you brought up John 3:26-36. “He must increase, but I must decrease.” God must become more and we must become less. As human beings, we tend to be so focused on our own lives–on our problems as well as our successes. When we deal with struggles, we forget about God’s sovereignty in our lives. When we experience success, we attribute it to our own abilities. As Christians however, we should strive to follow the kind of example that John the Baptist set–to humble ourselves and to praise Him always.
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May 6, 2016 at 3:30 am
This post is extremely relatable for me. My father, being a musician, decided to teach me his craft from a very young age. Because of this, I play eight instruments, and I sing. My dad was a worship leader, and after showing me the ropes, I began leading worship for my church when I was still practically a child. People were always so impressed with my abilities as a musician and as a singer, and they did not hesitate to tell as much. Over time, it is something that you expect. Even though we were singing lyrics about God, I was focused on the notes and how I sounded. It stopped being worship for me, and instead became a show. I found that in order to put my focus back on God, I had to take a step back from worship and truly immerse myself in scripture. I found the passage about how I must decrease in order for Christ to increase especially helpful. Even though this still something I struggle with, I am aware of it now, and I pour my energy into giving God the glory instead of taking it for myself. Thank you for posting.
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May 6, 2016 at 4:23 pm
Brandon,
This is an excellent post! Thank you for sharing this! As a musician myself, I can definitely identify with this. There is always a temptation to take credit for your abilities and to take pride in your own accomplishments. As you said, if you let that pride take over, you begin to crave those complements from men. I love that sentence where you said that, rather than trying to praise God, we start seeking to be praised as gods. We see in Scripture that we are not to be seeking the approval of men, but of God. John the Baptist is definitely a great example of a person who showed the type of humility that God calls us to have. Every talent and every gift comes from God, and we must view our talents and gifts as platforms and avenues for service to Him, for His glory, and for the furtherance of His kingdom. Each time we perform as musicians, we must come before God in prayer and ask Him to help us have our minds fixed upon Him and to truly glorify God with our performances and not seek praise from men.
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