The greatest truths often come in simple transitions. Consider:

BUT NOW . . .

[19] Now we know that whatever the law says it speaks to those who are under the law, so that every mouth may be stopped, and the whole world may be held accountable to God. [20] For by works of the law no human being will be justified in his sight, since through the law comes knowledge of sin.
[21] But now [Νυνὶ δὲ, nuni de] the righteousness of God has been manifested apart from the law, although the Law and the Prophets bear witness to it— [22] the righteousness of God through faith in Jesus Christ for all who believe. For there is no distinction: [23] for all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God, [24] and are justified by his grace as a gift, through the redemption that is in Christ Jesus, [25] whom God put forward as a propitiation by his blood, to be received by faith. This was to show God’s righteousness, because in his divine forbearance he had passed over former sins. [26] It was to show his righteousness at the present time, so that he might be just and the justifier of the one who has faith in Jesus.
—Romans 3:19-26

BUT GOD . . .

[2:1] And you were dead in the trespasses and sins [2] in which you once walked, following the course of this world, following the prince of the power of the air, the spirit that is now at work in the sons of disobedience— [3] among whom we all once lived in the passions of our flesh, carrying out the desires of the body and the mind, and were by nature children of wrath, like the rest of mankind. [4] But God [ὁ δὲ θεὸς, de Theos], being rich in mercy, because of the great love with which he loved us, [5] even when we were dead in our trespasses, made us alive together with Christ—by grace you have been saved— [6] and raised us up with him and seated us with him in the heavenly places in Christ Jesus, [7] so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus. [8] For by grace you have been saved through faith. And this is not your own doing; it is the gift of God, [9] not a result of works, so that no one may boast. [10] For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them.
—Ephesians 2:1-10

 

“When you’ve had all the experiences – met all the famous people, made some money, toured the world and got all the acclaim – you still think ‘is that it?’” —George Harrison of the Beatles

Some great reflections on worship as the antidote to idolatry by Jonathan McIntosh (parts 1 & 2).

A few ways to identify if we’re bought into the ‘god’ (idol) of personal acclaim:

• Jealousy — Do you become easily envious of leaders who have more influence, a larger platform, or a bigger following than you?

• Despair — When someone’s talent, level of attention, fame or power eclipses your own, does it practically affect your level of joy – even driving you to despair?

• Self Absorption — Do you find yourself busily preening your public image, Googling your name, obsessing over how many times your sermons or songs have been downloaded, the number of hits on your site, or the number times you get retweeted?

• Need for Credit — Is it hard for you when others get credit for something you deserve? Do you find yourself constantly needing to set the record straight, mak

A key point, in part two, on repentance and faith:

The antidote begins with worship – to give glory back to God.

Repent: Repentance in this case looks like giving back to God what is rightfully his: worship. Glory. Renown.
Believe: Believe that the glory that comes from God is better, richer, and more lasting than the transient glory that comes from man (John 12:43).

Repent: Be humbled as you realize you have attempted to use the ministry and gifts God has given you to pilfer from him the fame and renown that he and he alone deserves.
Believe: Be lifted up as you realize and experience afresh your unalterable identity as son or daughter of the King who died to make rebels and glory thieves his kids.

Worship to repent. Worship to believe.

Also, some practical suggestions on how to lead ourselves from a desire for personal acclaim to true worship of God:

If acclaim is your idol of choice:

• Begin the day with worship. Don’t rest till your study, meditation, or prayer leads to adoration.

• Command your soul to worship. Don’t wait for the music or the feeling. David did this multiple times throughout the Psalms, just look up “O my soul”.

• Practice being more expressive. Shout, clap, dance. You have to retrain your body, mind, and soul. Learn again the language of adoration. This is a fight for your heart’s affection.

• Memorize Psalm 16 (“In your presence there is fullness of joy.”) Psalm 42 (“As a deer pants for flowing streams, so pants my soul for you, O God.”) or Psalm 63 (“My soul thirsts for you; my flesh faints for you.”)

A great place to start, right now, is to sing, pray, and meditate on these words from Be Thou My Vision:

Riches I heed not, nor man’s empty praise,
Thou mine Inheritance, now and always:
Thou and Thou only, first in my heart,
High King of heaven, my Treasure Thou art.

Read on:

• Worship as Antidote to Idolatry (part 1)
• Worship as Antidote to Idolatry (part 2)

 

“Prayer is the application of want to Him who only can relieve it, the voice of sin to Him who alone can pardon it. It is the urgency of poverty, the prostration of humility, the fervency of penitence, the confidence of trust. It is not eloquence, but earnestness; not the definition of helplessness, but the feeling of it; not figures of speech, but compunction of the soul. It is the ‘Lord, save us, we perish,’ of drowning Peter [Matt. 8:15]; the cry of faith to the ear of mercy.

“Adoration is the noblest employment of created beings; confession, the natural language of guilty creatures; gratitude, the spontaneous expression of pardoned sinners. Prayer is desire; it is not a mere conception of the mind, nor a mere effort of the intellect, nor an act of the memory; but an elevation of the soul towards its Maker; a pressing sense of our own ignorance and infirmity; a consciousness of the perfection of God, of His readiness to hear, of His power to help, of His willingness to save. It is not an emotion produced in the senses, nor an effect wrought by the imagination; but a determination of the will, and effusion of the heart.”

—Hannah More (1745-1833), Practical Piety: or the Influence of the Religion of the Heart on the Conduct of Life (New York: The American Tract Society, 1811), p. 83.

Notice the usage of ‘want’ in that day is different than in ours; we ‘want’ out of essentially coveting, yet here ‘want’ connotes a deep, unmet desire for a true need to be satisfied.

 

Good words from a godly woman, who labored for the abolition of slavery, women’s rights, and the common good of all:

“Christianity bears all the marks of a divine original; it came down from heaven, and its gracious purpose is to carry us up thither. Its author is God. It was foretold from the beginning, by prophecies, which grew clearer and brighter as they approached the period of their accomplishment. It was confirmed by miracles, which continued till the religion they illustrated was established. It was ratified by the blood of its Author. Its doctrines are pure, sublime, consistent. Its precepts just and holy. Its worship is spiritual. Its service reasonable, and rendered practicable by the offers of Divine aid to human weaknesses. It is sanctioned by the promise of eternal happiness to the faithful, and the threat of everlasting misery to the disobedient. It had no collusion with power, for power sought to crush it. It should not be in any league with the world, for it set out by declaring itself the enemy of the world;—it reprobated its maxims, it showed the vanity of its glories, the danger of its riches, the emptiness of its pleasures.

“Christianity, though the most perfect rule of life that ever was devised, is far from being barely a rule of life . . . .  This religion does not consist in an external conformity to practices which, though right in themselves, may be adopted from human motives, and to answer secular purposes. It is not a religion of forms, and modes, and decencies. It is being transformed into the image of God. It is being like-minded with Christ. It is considering Him as our sanctification [how we change], as well as our redemption [the way we are rescued]. It is endeavoring to live to Him here, that we may live with Him herafter. It is desiring earnestly to surrender our will to His, our heart to the conduct of His Spirit, our live to the guidance of His Word.

“The change in the human heart, which the Scriptures declare to be necessary, they represent to be not so much an old principle improved, as a new one created; not educed out of the former character, but implanted in the new one.”

—Hannah More (1745-1833), Practical Piety: or the Influence of the Religion of the Heart on the Conduct of Life (New York: The American Tract Society, 1811), pp. 11-12, emphasis added.

 

“There is no worse screen to block out the Spirit than confidence in our own intelligence.”
—John Calvin