Has anyone delivered a compliment to you which you accepted and felt good about, yet simultaneously knew was simply inaccurate? I know that I have.

Matthew-Henry’s father, Philip (also a Puraitan) said this:

“Be as much troubled by unjust praises, as by unjust slanders.”

This is apt. When someone with a distaste for our personality speaks ill of us for no notable reason, we’re usually at least frustrated. But more likely angry. But, few people have such qualms about someone speaking highly of them when it’s undeserved. This is a real problem.

When someone slanders us without cause, we are broken down and our person is hurt. But, when someone builds us up with false information, God’s person is hurt. We accept praise on false grounds to bolster our pride, which inevitably robs God of glory which is due to him. This is much worse.

I try to correct people when they offer compliments on false pretenses. But I am guilty as well. I just wish I could be half as worked up about it as I am when I’m unfairly criticized.

In Psalm 9, David is praising God for protecting his people and overcoming his enemies. After Christ, however, we find that we are often our own enemies. So as I read, the final verse struck me in my own context. The verse reads like this:

“Arise, O LORD! Let not man prevail;
   let the nations be judged before you!
Put them in fear, O LORD!
   Let the nations know that they are but men! “

We live in a country of unprecedented privilege. Unprecedented resources. Unprecedented safety. And even us in the church struggle to remember that God is behind this. Not government, not family, not self—but God.

So, in my own mind, David’s prayer reads more like this.

“Arise, O LORD! Let us not prevail ourselves;
   thank you that Christ has taken the wrath of your judgment for me!
Put fear in me, O LORD!
  Let me know that I am but a man, and you are my God!”

1 Peter 3:15 is a verse most Christians are relatively familiar with. I’ve written about it too. But what I think Christians are less accustomed to hearing is the end of that verse and the verse that follows it.

1 Peter 3:15-16:

“…In your hearts honor Christ the Lord as holy, always being prepared to make a defense to anyone who asks you for a reason for the hope that is in you; yet do it with gentleness and respect, having a good conscience, so that, when you are slandered, those who revile your good behavior in Christ may be put to shame.”

It seems to me that many Christians are ready with an answer for the hope they have in Christ, but they’re not ready to give it with gentleness and respect. It seems more often to me that they are given in arrogance and impatience, as though their faith were something entirely of themselves.

Yet the fact of the matter is that if we have faith in Christ it is not because we are somehow superior to those who do not, but because we have received grace thus far to believe.

Of course, this bit in 1 Peter is written to people who would be slanderously accused for their faith and therefore a confident answer was important. And since the accusations would likely be very aggressive, obviously it was important to remind them that they shouldn’t respond with aggression, but with respect and gentleness.

Questions about our faith may not come with the same aggression today as it did then, but I think the exhortation to gentleness and respect stands as just as important.

Do you ever have times when you’re in a conversation with someone and you find yourself thinking about what you’re going to say next rather than what they’re actually saying? I know that I do sometimes. In spirited debate it’s a little more reasonable to do this kind of thing. After all, there is a sense of competition in debate.

But what about when someone is sharing something personal; do you ever zone out and think about all the great advice you’re going to give? Well, reading yesterday in Proverbs 18, I was immediately reminded of this. Verse 2:

A fool takes no pleasure in understanding,
   but only in expressing his opinion.

Then again in verse 13:

If one gives an answer before he hears,
   it is his folly and shame.

I’d like to be able to say that I don’t suffer from this tendency. But that would be a lie. Unfortunately I do. At least some of the time. But something I find especially interesting is the way Proverbs pitches the thought.

Sure, it’s not very loving to others to be constantly itching to hear your own voice and opinion. But that’s not really the angle it takes. It’s also bad for me on some other level entirely.

When I’m having a personal conversation with someone, it’s not only rude for me to zone out of what they’re saying to think of how I’ll respond, but in some way it also hurts me. Possibly by bolstering ego? Robbing the heart’s opportunity to empathize? Or simply allowing selfishness room to rule? I don’t know, it could be all kinds of things, I suppose.

But any way your look at it, Solomon is right and I don’t want to be a fool.

Haman was an aide to the king in the book of Esther. The King had honored Haman with power and authority, but when Mordecai, a Jew, wouldn’t recognize Haman, he was infuriated.

I find the language describing his pride, somewhat comical, but also a little uncomfortably familiar. Esther 5:9-13:

And Haman went out that day joyful and glad of heart. But when Haman saw Mordecai in the king’s gate, that he neither rose nor trembled before him, he was filled with wrath against Mordecai. Nevertheless, Haman restrained himself and went home, and he sent and brought his friends and his wife Zeresh. And Haman recounted to them the splendor of his riches, the number of his sons, all the promotions with which the king had honored him, and how he had advanced him above the officials and the servants of the king. Then Haman said, "Even Queen Esther let no one but me come with the king to the feast she prepared. And tomorrow also I am invited by her together with the king. Yet all this is worth nothing to me, so long as I see Mordecai the Jew sitting at the king’s gate."

Have you ever allowed something good to be ruined by a tiny detail? I definitely have. In fact, I have a tendency to only see the flaws in many of my situations. Often, all of the good I experience is for naught in lieu of a small imperfection.

I unhappily admit that while reading Haman’s story, he comes across quite silly. But then, I must look quite silly to God also.

I don’t really ever play video games. I have an xbox 360, but it only gets my attention for about 45 minutes once ever couple months. Most people would probably call that a good thing. Well, in this case it actually turned out to be the problem.

See, I signed up for xbox Live about six months ago. (In case you’ve been under a rock for the past three years, xbox Live is the online is the online multiplayer subscription service offered by Microsoft). The subscription costs about eight bucks a month. A comparatively small sum. I signed up for the service thinking that I might play online with friends. This never happened.

Several months went by. I didn’t use the service. Instead the system collected dust. At one time I attempted to cancel the service, but I couldn’t find a way to do so in the xbox menu. So, I gave up, rationalizing the purchase by thinking perhaps I’ll decide to play in the future. This of course never happened.

Fast foreword to today.

I was going through some general lifestyle cleanup. Taking care of old papers, cleaning out drawers and cabinets. And, coming upon the xbox, cancelling an unused expenditure.

So, I called Microsoft to cancel the account. They asked for the usual information. Name, email, username, last four digits of the credit card used for billing. I gladly gave them all of these, but they couldn’t get into my account. It would seem that somehow I didn’t have the credit card anymore.

I became increasingly frustrated with the billing representative as she basically said, “If you can’t give us those numbers, we can’t cancel the account”. I was pretty steamed. So I asked for her supervisor. Which, in fact, just proved to be a reboot to the whole process. Eventually, I let her have it. All of my frustration with the corporate system (and likely pent up rage against Microsoft over the years) spilled out at this poor woman on the phone.

I felt justified in my lashing out. At least until I caught a subtle tone in the woman’s voice. Something like, “I really am trying as hard as I can here and I’m frustrated too, just stop yelling at me”. I know, it’s impressive that I could pick that all out of a tone. But it’s the truth it was all there. Suddenly, I felt pretty bad.

It also happened to be at this moment that the woman came across an account that was almost exactly like mine, except missing a letter. She asked what password I signed up with. When I confirmed it she was able to see all of my information.

To my horror, I discovered that I had given her none of the right information in order to look up my account. Why? Because when I signed up months ago, I used false information. Not even a real address. The problems in the billing department couldn’t have possibly been more clearly my fault. Once this was done, she sped through the cancellation process. She asked if I needed anything else, then jumped quickly into a closing script that concluded with a the phone hanging up.

I wanted to apologize. I wanted to explain my frustration and tell her that it was wrong of me to have lost my temper with her.

But it ended too quickly and I didn’t get a chance to say it.

It’s too late now to express my regret. But it was indeed a shot in the arm from my nemesis in the software world. Humility is a bitter pill—with any luck I won’t need to take it for something like this again!

A little later in 2 Chronicles chapter 16, we learn of Asa, king of Judah. He decides to mount a military offensive against the king of Israel. To do so, he enlists the help of the foreign nation Aram. He is successful in his endeavor.

Shortly after however, Hanani, the seer, comes to him with a prophetic word. He says:

Because you relied on the king of Aram and not on the LORD your God, the army of the king of Aram has escaped from your hand. Were not the Cushites and Libyans a mighty army with great numbers of chariots and horsemen? Yet when you relied on the LORD, he delivered them into your hand. For the eyes of the LORD range throughout the earth to strengthen those whose hearts are fully committed to him. You have done a foolish thing, and from now on you will be at war."

God has faced Asa with his sin and explains in detail the folly of it. Asa had first hand experience that if he would only lean on the Lord, he would be provided for. And although his military offensive was successful, Asa (and the nation of Judah) would be punished for his sin.

Asa is angry with the seer and his words. He even puts him in prison. His pride welled up and he revolted against God—at least for all intents and purposes.

In time, Asa continued to refuse to repent and lean on the Lord:

In the thirty-ninth year of his reign Asa was afflicted with a disease in his feet. Though his disease was severe, even in his illness he did not seek help from the LORD, but only from the physicians.

I read this tonight and found that this is still common. In Asa’s case, he is unhappy with God’s discipline. I’m sure it is this way sometimes, but more often I think people are unhappy with God’s choices in dealing with them or their loved ones. Perhaps we’ve lost our comfort, security, finances, family or friends. It is common for people to respond to this in pride and refuse to follow the Lord because of this, much like Asa did.

And, for some even with repeated opportunities to repent, solace is sought from the World, rather from God who gives freely.

Let’s hope and pray none of us fall to that brand of sin.