“I am the Lord; that is My name: and My glory will I not give to another, neither My praise to graven images” (Isa. 42:8).
The Lord will not give His glory to another, whether it be “graven images” or whether it be some man, even a Christian. Any service truly done for Him is “not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts.” We can only glorify Him as we abide in and thus draw spiritual strength from Him who said that “as the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in Me.” So “where is boasting then? It is excluded.” For a Christian to boast of his labors and accomplishments for the Lord is no less “the pride of life” than for a rich man to boast of his riches. Sad to say, many Christians fail to “give unto the Lord the glory due unto His name.” There are preachers who, instead of “being ensamples to the flock,” are “being lords over God’s heritage” and trying to build a little kingdom around themselves, like “Diotrephes, who loveth to have the preeminence among them.” The Lord says that “My glory will I not give to another,” and “for Mine own sake, even for Mine own sake, will I do it: for how should My name be polluted? And I will not give My glory unto another.” “We have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.”
Have you done some service for Him,
And that by His help and aid?
Would the flesh glory about this,
As if by you it was made?
Zech. 4:6; John 15:4; Rom. 3:27; 1 John 2:16; Psa. 29:2; 1 Peter 5:3; 3 John 9; Isa. 48:11; 2 Cor. 4:7.