Scripture Quoted: Ecclesiastes 9:11

Have you ever dealt with someone who’s ego was so large that they couldn’t fit their head through the door? Yeah, I have too, and they do not make it easy to enjoy their company (to put it likely). Wouldn’t it be so great to tell that person “the world doesn’t revolve around you!” or “you’re no better than the rest of us you know!”. There seems to be something in us that cringes at the idea of acting bigger than we really are.

Well, the book of Ecclesiastes touches on this very issue. The book explains how God doesn’t like when we give ourselves too much credit. In one passage, God quickly bursts anybody’s ego…

“Again, I saw that under the sun the race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the strong, nor the bread to the wise, nor riches to the intelligent, not favor to those with knowledge, but time and chance happen to them all.” (Ecclesiastes 9:11 ESV)

As humans, we tend to think that WE are the reason we accomplished this or have that. This is even a foundation in American thinking, the well known “pull yourself up by your boot straps and make yourself successful” echoes all through out our culture. If we succeed, it is because of something we did—if we fail, it is because of something we did.

God is giving us a different perspective; he tells us that apart from him, nothing happens. The strong, the good looking, the wise, and the fast are all the way they are because God made it so. Apart form him we are nothing and have nothing to give ourselves credit for.

So remember, you can be proud of the work you’ve done and you can feel accomplished. But you have to give praise where praise is due, and that is to God who made it all happen.

Stay Humble Christians and give glory to our amazing God, not ourselves.