PLAYING OUR POSITION

2 Chronicles 26:1-28:27; Romans 13:1-14; Psalm 23:1-6; Proverbs 20:11

“But when he had become powerful, he also became proud, which led to his downfall. He sinned against the Lord his God by entering the sanctuary of the Lord’s Temple and personally burning incense on the incense altar….Azariah the high priest went in after him with eighty other priests of the Lord, all brave men. …‘It is not for you, Uzziah, to burn incense to the Lord…. The Lord God will not honor you for this!’ Uzziah, who was holding an incense burner, became furious. But as he was standing there raging at the priests before the incense altar in the Lord’s Temple, leprosy suddenly broke out on his forehead. … So King Uzziah had leprosy until the day he died.”

“Instead, clothe yourself with the presence of the Lord Jesus Christ. And don’t let yourself think about ways to indulge your evil desires.”

“The Lord is my shepherd; I have all that I need.”

“Even children are known by the way they act, whether their conduct is pure, and whether it is right.”

Truly, a haughty spirit goes before a fall. From monarch to pauper, no one is immune from the pitfalls of pride. It is a contagion. Let us begin feeling good about ourselves, and suddenly, we want more of everything. Particularly bad cases of conceit even invade the provinces of others. When we begin doing things for which we have no qualifications whatsoever, it’s almost a sure bet we are riding a wave of arrogance. Blinded by egotism, we see nothing clearly, least of all ourselves. Uzziah lost himself just like any person can do in the midst of great accomplishment and blessing. He quickly learned political achievement does not necessarily translate into spiritual authority. Uzziah had to learn, or relearn, to take orders from a higher authority. The most interesting thing, though, is how angry Uzziah got when told that incense burning was not part of his job description. Instead of being content with the authority and responsibility he did have, Uzziah became infuriated when he could not “have it all.”

Since the dawn of mankind, people have lusted after forbidden fruit. It matters not that we have access to all the other produce in the garden. Let us know that any one thing is off limits, and we suddenly want no other.  We do not like being denied anything, and when it happens, we become slaves to our frustration and greed.

The Holy Spirit gives us good counsel in today’s Scripture. Via the 23^rd Psalm, the Bible makes clear our lust for things we do not and cannot have is a completely useless emotion. Older translations admonish us, telling us that we “shall not want.” Of course, that’s a little like being told not to think of a blue horse. Over the years, our consistent inability to refrain from covetousness apparently led translators to a slightly different translation today, “I have everything I need.” The point is the same: don’t covet or lust after what we don’t have. However, the new translation gives us clear justification for the command. We already are complete in Jesus.

That bears repetition: we have Christ. Consequently, we have all we need. Whatever else we may work for or earn, the one thing we most desperately require has already been freely and completely given. All we have to do is accept it. There’s no need to chase after every recognition or accomplishment available, because we already know where we will stand on Judgment Day.

God created each of us with a uniquely individual purpose. Attempting things for which we are not equipped or called by God is just plain counterproductive. In fact, when we do attempt to “play out of position,” we are getting in the way of those who are qualified to do the job, and we rob them of the blessing of carrying it out. More personally, we can get distracted from our own mission when we try to do too much.

We need to resist the temptation to compete with our Christian brothers and sisters. Clothed with Christ, there’s nothing else we need. In fact, there’s just no reason to even indulge our fantasies of fame. What is human notoriety when the Creator of the Universe has already granted us a private audience and written a part for which we are uniquely suited? There’s just no reason to try to be something we aren’t. What we are is sufficient, for we are backed by the full faith and credit of the Holy Spirit.