Prestige. That is the name of the elusive idol that calls out to my heart when my worries, plans, or insecurities drown ou the voice of the Holy Spirit.
I’ve always been competitive. Like, jumping up and down in anger in the kitchen because my partner outbid me and went set in a card game kind of competitive. I don’t want to be good, I want to be the best, so far above everyone else that it doesn’t need to be spoken, everyone just knows it. My competitiveness can be good; it is what motivates me to work. it pushes me to do better. But it has a giant, ugly dark side that goes by several names: Pride, Self-Promotion and Idolatry, just to name a few.
And that dark side pushes and prods and dances me down a tunnel that leads to discontentment and on to frustration, where the flames of my insecurities are fanned and I find myself crippled, stuck in the barren ghost-town. I have unwittingly been moving toward. Sin is like that. Idolatry is like that. Movement towards it is subtle. But step by step, we go towards a place and a person we don’t want to be.
But standing still isn’t the right answer. That’s what I want to do when I’m scared. After all, those safety presentations they did in elementary school always said if you lose your parent int he mall or on the street or whatever, stand still and wait for them to come back to you. That’s what I want to do. Stand still so I don’t get shuffled by the crowd int he wrong direction. Not fight. not flight. Just freeze. Play dead. My solution to everything.
But I’m not a five year old lost at the mall. It isn’t the same situation. I need to keep telling myself that. I’m not lost and alone. i have a God that has walked these steps before me. And wants to take me with Him. To Him. To his high paces. Hebrews 4 says:
“Since then we have a great high priest who has passed through the heavens, Jesus, the Son of God, let us hold fast our confession. for we do not have a high priest who is unable to sympathize with our weaknesses, but one who in every respect has been tempted as we are, yet without sin. let us then with confidence draw near to the throne of grace, that we may receive mercy and find grace to help in time of need.”
God didn’t leave me abandoned, and he’s not standing back judging me. He came to Earth and was tempted. with pride and prestige. He understands me. And led me by example. to humility. So, instead of being petrified, I can move boldly towards the throne of grace. He leads to a place that is the opposite of the pride-filled ghost town of my dark side. To his presence, decorated brightly and beautifully in his honor.
Hinds’ Feet on High Places by Hannah Hurnard is an allegory in which Much Afraid journeys to the high places in the mountains to be with the Great Shepherd. As she walks towards the mountains with the Great Shepherd, Much Afraid finds a field of wildflowers.
I have often wondered about the wildflowers,” she said. “It does seem strange that such unnumbered multitudes should bloom in the wild places of the earth where perhaps nobody ever sees them…”
“I must tell you a great truth, Much Afraid, which only the few understand. All the fairest beauties in the human soul, its greatest victories, and its most splendid achievements are always those which no-one else knows anything about, or can only dimly guess at.”
The things that I so easily spend my life striving for: the recognition and pride, they don’t bring the beauty that is really at the heart of my longing. Real beauty and honor come when my delight is in not what people think of me, but in serving my God. Living my life for his purposes and for his glory. It’s a choice that needs to be made every day: shivering in a ghost town of pride or dancing in a field of wildflowers with my God.
“The fear of man brings a snare, but whoever trusts in the LORD shall be safe.” Proverbs 29:25
Your idol may not be prestige. It could be a person, a place, money, a job, or even a hobby that grasps your hand, leading you slowly away from your secure identity as one that is created and beloved by God. Whatever idol you find in your grips, let go. Find rest, safety, and peace in the presence of your savior.
