If you want some amusing reading, try an internet search for “things you should not touch” and prepare to laugh a good bit.
You’ll see all the be-a-nice-visitor pages about never touching your host’s refrigerator, remote control or thermostat. And thanks to the COVID epidemic there are pages and pages of things that COVID-germophobes say you should never, ever touch. These lists include things like door handles and ATM buttons. (How you’re supposed to get through doors is a mystery.) And if you needed proof that physics is strange, there’s even an article on particle wave duality that “proves” you can never actually touch anything. Uhhmmmm, right!
I remember when I was living in North Carolina and working on running electricity out to one of the barn buildings that was on our property. I forgot to turn off the breaker, and so I was working with a live wire. When I touched the cable with the end of the wire cutters it immediately created a shower of sparks and melted a quarter-inch gap in the tool. Thankfully the handles were insulated, or it would have probably melted something worse in me!!! Lesson learned.
No matter how you look at it and by what basis you choose to decide what goes on the list — there are some things where the only wise approach is NEVER TOUCH IT.
A wise man once gave me the following advice about how to conduct myself as a minister. He said, “Don’t touch the gals, the gold or the glory.”
News reports and broken hearts abound from people who’ve broken the first two rules. I once was on staff at a church where the senior pastor left his wife and two children to shack up with the secretary of the church. It caused incredible heartache and devastation. What made matters worse is that, as soon as the divorce was final, he married the woman of besmirched virtue and immediately started a new church IN THE SAME TOWN. I don’t know what is more foolish, his decisions to decimate his family and destroy his reputation or the decision of people who chose to attend his new church. Neither one makes sense to me. Sadly, the story lines related to people who feel comfortable stealing money from the church are just as destructive.
But we never seem to be overly concerned about taking glory for what God does. I’ve met ministers who have private jets and use them well, actually saving overall expenses through judicious planning, staff allocation and equipment movement that would be much more costly on a straight commercial basis. But I’ve also seen the other side of the coin where people act as though the bigger their ministry is the larger their jet should be. I’ve known heads of large denominations that are more than happy to spend a few nights in the same sort of hotel rooms you and I might choose. But I’ve also seen people who are so self-important that they reserve the Presidential Suite at luxury properties.
Today’s verse is a vital reminder about the glory. NEVER TOUCH IT !!!
ALL GLORY TO GOD.
ALL the glory, ALL the time. It is His, not yours or mine. Keep directing people back to the source of power and peace, and He will keep using you. Can He trust you to speak with presidents, popes and paupers with the same heart? Give Him the glory He so richly deserves, and watch Him continue to open door after door for you.
When He can trust you to NEVER TOUCH HIS GLORY, the second part of the verse will become an active part of your ministry, and He will use you to accomplish infinitely more than you could ever ask or think.
