The Need for Credit

January 24, 2019 

I have one of those Fitbit watches that tracks the number of steps I walk each day.  My daily goal is 8000 steps.  When I reach it, my watch starts buzzing and rockets and fireworks flash on the screen, congratulating me for my accomplishment.  I also recently bought a used exercise bike from someone in my neighborhood.  I love it because I can still get my exercise in when I don’t feel like braving some of the cold weather we’ve been experiencing lately.  Here’s the problem.  I can pedal on that bike as hard as I can for as long as I want, and I won’t get credit on my Fitbit for a single step because my arms aren’t moving.   That’s not a workable system for me.  If I do the work, I want to credit.  I want my watch to buzz furiously and to see the rockets and fireworks as validation for my hard work.  In fact, I have a hard time going to bed at night without it.  If it’s 10 pm and I’m 500 steps short, I’ll do laps around my kitchen and living room until I get that credit.

Why do we seek the validation and approval? Why is it so important to us that we get the credit we think we deserve?  Why do I care my watch validates and affirms me?!  Isn’t that crazy?! There are lots of ways that this need for approval, validation and credit manifests itself.  We get ourselves in debt trying to impress others.  Someone said, “we spend money we don’t have, on things we don’t need, to impress people we don’t like.”  We get ourselves in trouble at work by trying to take more credit for a project than we actually deserve, or belittling someone else’s work to elevate our own work in someone else’s eyes.  We come unbearable to others when we constantly boast of our accomplishments.

Living for the approval and validation of others was a problem in Jesus’ day too.  He said in John 5:44, “How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?”  Their priorities were skewed.  Jesus was talking to the religious leaders who liked to walk around in long robes and pray long public prayers so that the people would heap praise on them for their piety.  Jesus told them not to seek the praise of others, but to seek the glory of God.  We aren’t any different.  When we give, we want people to know about it.  When we visit the sick or do some other good deed to someone else, we want credit.

Cheerios is running a campaign with Ellen DeGeneres now called “Thanks for all the good you do.”  You cut out a postcard from the back of the Cheerios box and write your good deeds on it.  Then you send the postcard to Ellen for a chance to win two tickets to the show.  It’s a wonderful campaign in that it inspires us to do good to others, but we are not to do good deeds for earthly reward.  The Bible says, “when you give, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing. When you pray, go in your closet where you will not be seen by men.  Then your Father, who sees what is done in secret, will reward you.”   That’s the crux of the matter.  Do we want credit from men or from God?  There’s nothing wrong and everything right with doing good deeds to help others.  That’s what we should be doing.  The issue is our motivation.  If we are doing these deeds for earthly credit, then as Jesus said, “You already have your reward in full.”  But if we are doing these deeds so that “Men may see our good works and glorify God,” then we are doing them for the right reasons.

So how do we change our hearts so that we don’t need the credit for the good that we do, and are satisfied that God receives all the glory?  Harry Truman is credited with saying, “It’s amazing what you can accomplish if you don’t care who gets the credit.”  Not caring if we get credit requires a humble heart, recognizing that any financial surplus from which we can give, or our health that allows us to run errands for someone who is sick, or any knowledge we have to teach others, are all gifts from God.  Paul said, “If you received it from God, why do boast as if you did not?”  We need to humble our hearts and seek the approval of One.  People are fickle.  You’ll constantly need to gain their approval again.  Affirmation can become addicting and toxic.  If God knows what you’ve done, let that be enough.  Pray about where you are having problems in this area and ask God to change your heart.

By the way, I solved my Fitbit problem.  I figured out that I can put it in my pants pocket and it will give me credit for my steps while pedaling! 🙂