Day 66, Year 1

Avoiding Vainglory

“Like snow in summer and like rain in harvest, So honor is not fitting for a fool.” (Proverbs 26:1 NASB)

Fools might speak excellent words for the sake of seeking honor. Indeed, those who recognize their foolishness often experience a sense of low self-esteem or poor self-image. They would naturally try to seek honor in order to offset their internal deficiencies and shortcomings. Thus, some fools fall into a vicious cycle of constantly striving to speak excellent words and seeking honor from others, while failing to deal with their inner problems all the time. This leads them to either live in self-deception or be double-faced.

I believe this was a problem evident in the lives of the cult of Pharisees and scribes in the New Testament. In the coming days, dozens of devotional materials will help you address and escape such problems. However, if you recognize similar issues in yourselves, you could start dealing with this vicious cycle immediately. The direction is simple—to view worldly honor as meaningless or vain and no longer pursue or be moved by it. In other words, do not be joyful when being praised by others. Since true honor comes from the Lord, if any honor from people is not in line with God’s will, it is mere vanity or even deception. On the other hand, if the honor from people matches the Lord’s, one only needs to receive the Lord’s honor, which is more than enough. Therefore, we have to avoid all worldly vainglory. This does not mean prohibiting others from praising you, but only ensuring your heart seeks God’s affirmation and appreciation, not human honor. 

Looking back at the first paragraph, if we have low self-esteem or poor self-image, we can entrust them to Jesus. When we faithfully follow the Lord’s words, we will find inner fulfillment and may also receive His praise and reward. This could liberate us from the need for human honor. For instance, if people follow the New Testament’s teaching to believe in Jesus and accept Him as our Lord, we will find ourselves continually inspired and guided by Him. These are the rewards that the Lord gives, enabling us to experience His goodness further. As we follow and serve Him in the places He leads, we know His honor will surely come.

In fact, those who believe in Him often enter a spiritual virtuous cycle—the more we trust and obey, the more peace and blessings we receive. Even in adversity and suffering, we will certainly see the way opened up and the help offered by Jesus, filling our hearts with divine peace and making our lives prosperous and beautiful.

Reflection questions:

1) Do you find your heart easily stirred by others’ compliments? If so, how would you rely on the Lord to change your heart?

2) Is your life in a vicious cycle, i.e., an inner deficiency while striving for honor from somebody, or a spiritual virtuous cycle driven by God’s guidance? If needed, how would you redirect your course?