Moses continues to tell the Israelites what they need to know before they cross over into the Promised Land in just a few days. He has been telling them about all the promises God has made that they are going to be able to benefit from. Then Moses makes this statement about the Israelites that probably didn’t build up their self-esteem. Basically, God was saying He wasn’t doing this because of them; they weren’t really that special. They were the special possession of God, but God is telling them here that they weren’t all that special. God chose them because He loved them and because He had made a promise to their ancestors.

God was telling the Israelites that so they didn’t get big heads about their relationship with God. It is amazing how quickly pride can deceive you into thinking that something God did for you or through you was because of you. God does what He does for reasons that sometimes only He knows. His motivation is always love and not us. We are the object of His love, but we are not the reason for it nor are we the source of it.

One of the most dangerous things for a Christian is success. Once we have success in something, we sometimes will think that we had something to do with it. When we do that we are taking God’s glory from Him which He is not too happy about. Or we might think that God made us successful because there is something special about us. God has no favorites; He loves those who love Him and those who don’t.

All glory and honor belong to God. If God has placed you in a position where you lead other people there can be a great temptation to take some of God’s glory. It happens when someone tells you how something you have done has blessed them or ministered to them. It can sometimes be very difficult to remember that you are not so special and that you shouldn’t take any credit for it. All glory belongs to God and should be given to Him immediately.

This needs to take place in our hearts before it comes out of our mouths. If God does something through you and someone praises you for it, it can sound very fake if you are praising God just so that you sound humble. It is better just to say, ‘Thank you’ and leave it at that. This can be especially true with someone that God is using in a tremendous way. There is nothing special about any of us, regardless of what the world would try to convince you. God does what He does in our lives because He loves us and because He wants to. Don’t let your pride convince you of anything else. Jesus, help us to be truly humble and not convinced of our own importance.

To listen to this devotional go to Audio version

Read: Deuteronomy 7:1-8:20; Luke 7:36-8:3; Psalm 69:1-18; Proverbs 12:1