Your daily Olympic devotional
A snippet from a new sports devotional, The Spirit of Victory. Available through your favourite bookstore.
Drowning In Honey - “It is not good to eat much honey. Nor is it glorious to seek one’s own glory.” Proverbs 25:27
In some unfortunate circumstances, bees can drown in their own honey. But the saying “drowning in honey” is one that I learnt on the cricket field. A batsman is scoring run after run from his favourite shot. But overuse of his favourite shot results in his dismissal with the fielders saying “he drowned in honey”. Honey is sweet and enticing, but too much can be sickly. Seeking one’s own glory and promoting one’s self can be sweet and enticing, but it is a false and passing glory. It is another way of drowning in honey.
Success in any area of life is sweet but it can be much harder to handle than failure. But what can we glory in? And, whose glory can we seek?
Firstly, Jeremiah the prophet spells it out magnificently in Jeremiah 9:23-24, “Thus says the Lord “let not the wise man glory in his might nor let the rich man glory in his riches; But let him who glories, glory in this – that he understands and knows Me, that I am the Lord exercising lovingkindness, judgement and righteousness in the earth for in these I delight” says the Lord.”
The focus is not on self and its achievements but upon God and His greatness. To know and love and thank Him frees us from the small world of self-obsession and self-image and opens our eyes to see real and lasting glory.
Secondary, whose glory can we seek? In 1 Corinthians 10:31 Paul passes on his own motivation for living, “Therefore, whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Here is living at its best, doing all to the glory of God. This all-encompassing – do all, from the simple acts of eating and drinking to competing at the Olympic Games or leading a nation or caring for a family. Whatever we do let it be for the glory of God, so He can be obeyed, honoured, thanked, and praised by all.