Good morning everyone,

Deuteronomy 10:21-He is your praise. He is your God, who has done for you these great and terrifying things that your eyes have seen.

I believe it is being created in the image of God that gives us the desire to be praised and take credit for whatever good that we have caused to happened. I think it is perfectly good and natural to expect gratitude from a spouse, friend, child, co-worker/boss for the good we may bring to the relationship/situation. But it does have limits doesn’t it?

Taking credit for doing something good for someone can create a false sense of pride in the "doer" if we don’t realize that "every good and perfect gift comes down from above" (James 1v 17). For instance if I we’re to receive a gift from my wife,I would definitely give her praise for it, but ultimately praise God for putting it in her heart to be so loving. So sure she gets credit and praise, but it is rooted in how good God is to me. This keeps me grateful to her, but not a worshipper of her, but of God who sent me her and put it in her heart to do such a loving act-(On the other hand, if she isn’t so kind to me, I don’t get mad at God, because her sin wasn’t sent from God as a good and perfect gift 😉 !

When the Lord Jesus is not in our view to receive ultimate praise and glory (credit) for all the good and perfect gifts in our lives, a corrupting sense of pride and self-importance to other people can take over. Pride in the sense that "I have brought about these blessings", and not God enabling us to do the work, have the health, and the opportunty. Also a distorted self-importance towards other people develops, by insisting that they give you all the credit for what you’ve done for them, almost an expectation to be worshipped. Giving praise and excepting credit is fine, but it should be held in great gratitude to God for the good that has come to us or the good we have caused or given to others. Such a perspective of ourselves always keep God in proper perspective.

In His love, Ld