Tested By the Praise We Receive
A hot furnace tests silver and gold,
and people are tested by the praise they receive.
(Proverbs 27: 21)
"Thank you. All praise be to God, and Him alone!" We have usually come across these phrases in our regular interactions of appreciations. Yes! Receiving praises is a challenge. Within that one little moment of being praised, there is so much happening inside our human minds. As believers in Christ Jesus the Lord and the abundance of His grace, we must know that we are being put into the furnace for the test, just like silver and gold, whenever we are being praised.
We know that the Lord has blessed us with wisdom, knowledge, talents, skills and strength needed for our life of service and testimony in this world. And, whenever we are being praised for any of these, our inner-sirens of faith should begin to work. The precious word of God, in the above verse we had taken for today's meditation clearly and outwardly projects the challenge of receiving praises. This proverb compares moments of praise to incidents of silver and gold being put into the fire for the test. And it is in such moments that we need to learn to give God the praise, thanks and glory for all that could happen through our lives. I wanted to look a bit more in detail on this thought as I find this comparison to be a fascinating and elaborating one.
The test of fire shows what is in there!
While reading this thought today, you may think that you are supposed to run away from praises. But no! It is a test that every usable and quality-assured silver and gold would go through. And it is good when it is received. But the moment the praise reaches you, remember to send it to the Lord our God. Moments of praises are opportunities to tell the world what you are made of! It is an advantaged position to tell that all that you are and all that you do is because of the essence in you. And, that essence is the Lord our God. So next time when you are praised, do not tell, "Ah... It's nothing, it's just..." Instead, make use of that opportunity to tell or to remind that person who praised you that all that you are is what the Lord has blessed you with!
Regular tests refine you!
Reading this comparison in Proverbs 27:21 also brought in within me this thought. The more we do good things in this world, the more is the praise. The more the praise the more the refinement. And, the more the refinement, the more we learn to tell with boldness and faith, that this is all because of what the Lord has blessed us with. Every time you do something in this world, the only One who is worthy of all praise and honour is given all the glory. And, every time we are put into this test, we hope and pray that we would overcome the temptation of putting ourselves first, and we would give all the glory and praise to God. Thus, let us not hide away from doing good work in our families and our societies. Let us not step back and be fearful of being praised. Instead, let's step forward, take initiatives, do well and when praised, let us take it as an opportunity to be refined and to give God all the glory.
Yourself fades away and Christ is seen in you.
Every time you ensure that the praises are well received and given to God, you are slowly overcoming this little temptation of putting yourself on the front. Just like all the dirt and corrupting coverings of the silver and gold are burnt in the test of fire, you are giving yourself an opportunity to leave away all that would boast about yourself and you learn to show out only the essence in you, the glory of God. Just as we believe that all that we are is what the Lord has instilled in us, we will also learn to show that mighty and wonderful essence of God in us. The test of fire cleanses all temptations of our selves covering the essence of God in us. Let us learn to remind ourselves and even the ones who praise us that what they praise is not what they see as our coverings, but the real silver and gold that is within us, the abundant blessings of the Lord our God.
Giving praise to God validates what we had done!
Let me remind you of this important point for our life of faith before I finish. Whenever you are praised for something, and if you are able to wholeheartedly give that praise to God, remember that it assures you that what you had done is acceptable to God. But at any time, you are praised and you feel odd saying "can I actually give praises to God for this?" then my dear friend, I would say, this is the test of fire. You may have to go back and see, whether what you had done, or the way you achieved it, was it something pleasing to God.
I pray that each of us will look to God and ask His help to overcome the human temptation of putting ourselves in front and to show to the world that it is the Lord our God who has to be praised for each and every good thing we could do in this world. May the blessing of God our Father, grace and love of Christ Jesus the Son, and the presence and guidance of the Holy Spirit be with us and help us. Next time when we are praised, we know what to do!
May God bless you.
Yours in Christ,
