Today’s passage is Numbers 3:1-13. Aaron and his four sons were anointed priests, but the first two were killed by God. God gave the Levites to assist Aaron and his sons and care for the tabernacle. God took the Levites in lieu of the firstborn male of all the Israelites, commemorating the time in Egypt when he struck down the Egyptian firstborn.
Blessed because of others
My pride is a perpetual problem to me and to others.
I like to take more credit for things than I deserve. Receiving compliments only makes it worse.
I can’t refuse the compliments because that offends the givers.
I try to say a simple thank you but often I use the moment to elaborate on how much I deserve even more compliments by saying how I was responsible for other related things or instrumental in the success of this and that.
I am grateful to God that he has put the success of my school ever before me.
I’m grateful because I can see so little direct relationship between any particular success and me.
Our elementary school is full while most other international schools have declining elementary school enrolment.
We have an excellent program, which I helped set up, but it’s really the superior teachers God sent me that have done the real work.
I get the credit, though, and sometimes I take it.
My school has universal use of computers for all students from grade 3 and up that connect the students and teachers to online programs through Google classroom, which has raised reading and Math scores on standardized tests.
All the other international schools use Apple computers. We use androids. As a result of our inexpensive computers, our parents don’t complain about the burden of having to buy Apple computers and all our students are equipped and able to access the best programs, which the other schools can’t afford due to their expensive computers.
As a result, our students are progressing faster.
I get the credit for this, too, even though it was an accident of the moment that Google arrived with inexpensive hardware and free educational software that we could augment with other expensive programs.
Again, it was the teachers who really did it. All I did was encourage them to explore possibilities and suggest plans.
This is just a sample of the blessings I receive in my school.
At home I receive more. I have the blessing of good health because my wife takes care of most of my diet and reminds me to eat lunch.
If I lived alone I would eat tuna out of the can or dump it on a dish of rice and follow that main course with popcorn, my favorite food.
My wife reminds me to go to the doctor and sometimes even takes me. She decides on what will be the best bedding for us when my only suggestion is to use sleeping bags!
Spiritually, my wife is my great reminder. Did I do my QT? Did I call this mogwon or that one? Have I prayed for so-and-so? Did I give a QTin to my office staff? The thanks I receive from others is really due to her, but I still accept it.
My pride tries to tell me that I am a godlike power onto myself, a tower of strength, wisdom and efficiency, and that things would collapse around me if I didn’t do what I do and say what I say. But that’s all untrue, the greatest of lies.
The truth is that I depend on everyone around me to sustain me.
Paul’s description of the church as the body of Christ is important for me to remember.
We all have a role to play in that spiritual community. We all bless each other with our work no matter how little or how great.
I am not alone, none of us are. And supporting us all is our Lord without whom nothing makes sense or has a purpose.
The real blessing for me is knowing I’m not alone anywhere.
I’m part of something at work, at home, at church, and God is shepherding us to salvation. My pride can’t compete with that!
Application: thank those who make me look good at school, and thank my wife for being who she is and caring for me.
Lord, thank you for making me part of a great community of believers and of diligent workers. Let me not swell with pride at my misguided perception of my own importance.
