When I was small and we still had livestock, my Pappy always had hogs. I would go down to “slop” the hogs with him. My Mama Kate my grandmother) would save her table scraps and the peelings etc from preparing meals in a bucket she kept at the far end of the back porch. This was the slop. It never smelled too good after sitting on the porch but those hogs thought it was prime rib or filet mignon. They would get so excited as we came down the hill with that bucket. It baffled me that those hogs actually enjoyed that slop and got so excited to see it coming.

When we would get to their pen, oh my, the smell. There was always at least one mud hole they would roll around in…get that nasty mud all over them…gruntling and carrying on in the most contented way.

I can remember asking my Pappy why they would roll in that nasty mud and eat that slop. His answer was simple and to the point, “They like it.”

Really?

Well, I can see myself in that ugly picture. When I was a baby Christian, I have to admit I was a glory hog. When I would do something well for the Father, I wanted His pat on the head and if He didn’t give me one, I accepted compliments and the credit for the job well done. I could reason that after all I had put in the effort and the time and everything else.

The sin nature in me said, “Why shouldn’t I get some glory? Does it all belong to God? Yes, it does. Every single tiny molecule of glory is His.

I realized that I was like those nasty hogs. Enjoying the sin of keeping the credit that belongs only to my Abba. Stealing for myself what could only belong to Him. How glorious it has been to get out of that “hog-pen”. To see my Abba God who is Adonai, King and Creator of the Universe receive glory and honor and praise and blessing.

2 Corinthians 9:12-15 talks about service. That as we serve with what He provides, our God receives thanksgivings and glory. Now I can stand back and watch with a heart bursting with joy as my Abba receives what is due only to Him…Blessings…glory…honor.

No longer a glory hog.🙌🏻