Is Pride Keeping You From Serving?

Does feeling like you are not good enough hold you back from serving the Lord?

It is hard for me to share about my CD with you.  It was a while before I’d even share my songs in church!  My husband asked me for years about making a CD, but I kept saying that I was not ready.  

The Lord used two things to work on my heart.  A man named Bill Winstead was one.  I remember when we were missionaries visiting a conference he was speaking at.  He requested that I play the piano.  I politely, “humbly” said that there were pianists there more talented than I, and maybe they should play instead.  His response left me shocked.  “That is pride, Sister.”  “So are you only willing to play if you are better than others?”  The Lord has brought his rebuke back to my mind frequently whenever my pride wants to take over and I am tempted to decline an invitation to serve the Lord in song.

Two years ago, my husband and I began praying about ways God would have us to expand our ministry.  Providing modest apparel for women and girls was one area that we felt led, but my husband again began pressing for me to produce a CD.  My response was basically that my talent wasn’t enough to spend that much on producing a CD.  The Lord directed me to Matthew 25:14–30, the parable of the talents.  He convicted me that I was doing what the slothful servant was doing.  I was saying, “Ah!  This talent isn’t as much as so-and-so’s.  I can’t do much with this!”  So, I just buried it.  I had to humble myself and come to the Lord, willing to be used in any way He desired.

Oh!  How I struggle with this even today!  I am so humbled to hear that God has used my songs to be a blessing to some.  I pray He will help me to lose my pride so I can share some of the stories of how He directed me to write a few songs. 

How we use the one talent is just as important as how the ten talents are used.  The person with one talent will be held just as responsible for how they used it, as the person with the 10.  We are to use them NOT because we are so good, or because we want to be seen of men, but because

JESUS IS WORTHY.