Creative people are often tagged as those with huge egos. In my experience as a creative pastor, I haven’t found this to be true. For the most part, the creative team is full of servant-hearted people working tirelessly behind the scenes; practising, setting up, sound checking and packing down. Anyone with an ego doesn’t hang around for long. Yet pride is a real issue we all deal with at times. Pride was the first sin that separated Adam and Eve from God in the Garden of Eden.

In its various forms, pride continues trying to separate us from God today.

Famous or Faceless: Servant Hearted in a Self-Focussed World

Philippians 2:8-9

And being found in appearance as a man, He humbled Himself and became obedient to the point of death, even the death of the cross. Therefore, God also has highly exalted Him and given Him the name, which is above every name.

This passage powerfully demonstrates Jesus’ humility and authority and stirs my faith like nothing else in relation to leading worship. When we lift up the name of Jesus, every name (EVERY name) is subject to His authority: sickness, depression, hopelessness, cancer, anxiety, complacency—every situation we wrestle with on earth is subject to the name of Jesus Christ. Just thinking about that makes me want to bring all that I am to see His name exalted. It was Jesus’ extreme humility that led to Him being given ultimate authority.

Pride and humility are central themes of Christianity and are ultimately contrasted in the characters of Jesus and Lucifer. Lucifer, wanting to be great, was cast out of heaven. Jesus, living in humility, was given all authority and exalted to heaven. Understanding how Lucifer’s pride led to his downfall can help us navigate the dangers of pride in our own lives.

Lucifer was once the most beautiful angel created to bring worship to God. You could say he was the most gifted worship leader ever. But his status and ability went to his head. Pride led him to be banished from heaven to spend eternity in hell. He took a third of the angels with him, now known as demons. I imagine Lucifer and the angels would be pining for the heaven they once knew and experienced freely.

We often think of pride as being boastful, but the more subtle shades of pride can be seen when we deliberately ignore God and do our own thing, when we forget to check in with God because we assume we’re on the right track, and when we lean on our own strength and intelligence to get things done.Pride separates us from God, whereas humility draws us close to God.

By being humble enough to acknowledge our weakness and dependence on God, we position ourselves for obedience to His day-to-day promptings, opening up His will for our lives.

As children of God, we have been entrusted with gifts and talents that reflect the glory of God. As our gifts begin to be recognised by others, we can momentarily forget where the gift came from, and there’s a temptation to receive the glory for ourselves. But we were never designed to receive glory; we were only meant to reflect it and give it to God.

When we become too self-focused, pride can destroy us, removing us from our God-given place. Understanding the enemy’s nature helps us better identify his work and thus rise above it. The life of Jesus is the ultimate example of how to live humbly. Jesus fulfilled the call of God on His life unto completion.

If you’re living out your calling and beginning to attract attention, redirect it back to God. Go out of your way to humble yourself. Put others first, don’t highlight your success, be the first to help with the chairs and last one out of the building. Be the one who pushes others forward. You don’t need to name-drop or go out of your way to mention the incredible things you’ve done.

Self-focused people draw people to themselves. Jesus-focused people draw people’s attention to Jesus. When you are focused on the truth of who Jesus is and what His presence brings, you can’t help but step into Godly confidence in whatever you are doing. But this should always be confidence in who He is, not confidence in yourself.

Matthew 23:12 says ‘For those who exalt themselves will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be exalted.’

Forget your reputation, take the form of a servant. Humble yourself in obedience, trusting His will. Each one of us is called to do great things and if we want to fulfil all God plans for us then we must do it His way. Faceless Worship is about desiring that our faces would be forgotten so God would receive all the glory.

REFLECTION
1. Is there an area where you struggle with pride?

2. Reflect on a time when you have felt the prompting of God and chose to ignore it. How did it feel, and what happened?

3. Have there been times in your life when you’ve done things in your own strength? Sometimes this can feel like confidence or assurance, but this can often be the first step to deviating from the path God has set for you.

4. What could it be today that God is requiring your humility and obedience in? Commit to trusting Him to lead you.

PRAYER
Father, forgive me for the times I have chosen to do my own thing. I want to walk in humility and obedience. I know you have gifted me with gifts and treasures to reflect your glory. Help me not to get distracted by doing things for you, but rather stay focused on being with you. Holy Spirit, be quick to remind me when I have wandered off course. Help me trust your timing and direction. It is my desire to stay close to the Father, humbly submitted to His will.

Amen