March 14, 2012
Today’s Text: Jeremiah 9:23-24
Today’s Key Thought: Don’t find your identity in what you do.
God’s command continues- “neither let the mighty man glory in his might.” Just like some people find their identity in what they know, many people also find all of their identity in what they can do.
How do we tend to do that?
This is a temptation for many people but it’s good but can be a real problem with guys. We tend to identify ourselves with things like our jobs, our job performance, our athletic ability, our talents, and with how our accomplishments make us look. The problem with finding all or our identity in what we can do is that…
- There is always someone who can do what we do better than we can.
- There will always be a time where we won’t be able to do what we used to do.
As a result the person that finds their identity in what they can do often ends up living in their past. They talk about the glory days. They talk about what they used to be. It’s like they are living back then. Some people even try to relive things through their kids.
Often the person who “glories in their might” wants to be known as the person who can get things done. They want to be seen as successful, and sometimes that leads to misplaced priorities, or lost opportunities in areas that they don’t find important but really are.
The person that glories in their might often has a difficult time saying “no” to others because they feel like they have to be the one to say yes everybody that asks them.
Application:
How do you glory in your might? How do you find identity in what you can do, and how does that need to change?
Study the Scriptures with Ben Jennings 
I tend to “Glory in my might” at home. Being the homemaker, I tend to like things done a certain way. It is hard for me to give up control in this area. I heard John trying to make the coffee the other morning and got right up and came to do it myself. I admit I am in such a routine and was concerned coffee wouldn’t be made correctly. (Don’t mess with my coffee!) lol. It is hard when you want something done in a certain way,but i shouldn’t let that bother me. In the long run it is not that important.
This devotion makes me think of woman in Hollywood. It must be so difficult to be the “star” of the time, and then get older and no one even talks about you any more. I also know many adults who still talk about High School as if they wanted to be back in that time of their life.
I need to not just think I am the only one who can ‘get the job done” in the house. I need to try to accept that a job may get done differently but that it is OK.