RR Manufactured Favor By David Harwood

Shabbat Shalom {{firstName}},

Let’s continue to identify and remove roadblocks to believing and experiencing God’s favor.

Let’s look at self-promotion.

I can’t prove it, but I think everybody has a tendency to put themselves forward. Some are subtle. Others brag. Love doesn’t.

Love ... does not brag, it is not puffed up, (1 Corinthians 13:4)

It is a manifestation of ambition, seeks to manufacture favor, and produces confusion.

For where jealousy and selfish ambition exist, there is disorder and every evil practice. (James 3:16)

It is a ubiquitous character flaw exemplified by some of the most powerful people in the world.

Proverbs points to another way.

Let another praise you and not your own mouth, a stranger and not your own lips. (Proverbs 27:2)

Yeshua warned us about putting ourselves forward.

But when you are invited, go and recline in the lowest seat so that when the one who invited you comes, he may say to you, ‘Friend, move up higher.’ Then you shall be honored in the presence of all those who are dining with you. For everyone who exalts himself will be humbled, and the one who humbles himself will be exalted.” (Luke 14:10–11)

Take the Messiah-Sage’s counsel seriously. He exemplified this. Nobody ever took the lowest place like Yeshua. Neither has anybody been exalted like Him.

A symptom of putting oneself forward can be seen in the love of honorifics and the desire for public deference.

They love the place of honor at feasts, the best seats in the synagogues, greetings in the marketplaces, and to be called rabbi by men. (Matthew 23:6–7)

One antidote to this is to simply recognize this trap. The King James Version uses the term “vainglory” in Philippians 2:3. The Greek is generally rendered “conceit.”

Do nothing out of selfishness or conceit (vainglory)... (Philippians 2:3a)

I like the term “vainglory.” It reminds me of 1 John 2:16

For everything in the world—the desire of the flesh, the desire of the eyes, and the boasting of life—is not from the Father but from the world. (1 John 2:16)

The “boasting of life” translates alazoneia. It’s succinctly defined as “constantly talking about how great oneself is.’ (Louw, J. P., & Nida, E. A.) One trait of end time apostasy is that people will be braggarts. It is written, “... people will be ...  boastful (2 Timothy 3:2a).

Boasting is a hindrance to receiving God’s favor, isn’t it? After all, Yeshua said that he who exalts himself will be humbled. (Luke 14:11)

By the way, a means of liberating ourselves from this is to maintain a wryly realistic sense of the absurd. One Christian hymn contains these thoughts.

When I survey the wondrous cross on which the Prince of glory died, my richest gain I count but loss, and pour contempt on all my pride

Without losing a healthy sense of one’s self-worth, a person can recognize that self-promotion is ridiculous and worthy of scorn. Consider these examples of God mocking the wicked.

He who sits in heaven laughs! Adonai mocks them. (Psalm 2:4)

The Lord laughs at him— for He sees his day is coming. (Psalm 37:13)

But You, Adonai, are laughing at them. You scoff at all the nations. (Psalm 59:9)

It may be right to mock our feeble attempts to self-fabricate favor. There’s nothing like the real thing and God has an unending reservoir of favor in store for those who rely upon Him. There is a greater charis (favor/grace) for those who yield and wait on Him.

But He gives greater grace. Therefore it says, “God opposes the proud, but gives grace to the humble.” (James 4:6)

God favors you, and His favor is in Yeshua. So, let us fix our eyes on Him.

... focusing on Yeshua, the initiator and perfecter of faith. For the joy set before Him, He endured the cross, disregarding its shame; and He has taken His seat at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:2)

Yeshua, seated at the right hand of Father’s throne, favors you.

Daily Bread, reading plan by Lars Enarson (https://www.thewatchman.org/)
Sat13-Dec-202523rd of Kislev, 5786 Parashat Vayeshev
Ge 40:1-23Amos 2:6-3:8Ac 7:9-16