William Wallace. Maximus Decimus Meridius. King Leonidas. Movie legends.
Muhammad Ali. Babe Ruth. Bill Russell. Sports legends.
Michael Jackson. The Beatles. Bob Marley. Music legends.
What
do all of these legends have in common? Their accomplishments seem
larger than life. At times in their stories, each one of them seemed
invincible. And their stories were so inspiring that men just kept
retelling them over and over, eventually turning the details into
folklore, stories that continue to live long after their time is past.
Samson had a moment like that, too, which we’ll read about today. A moment he shared with 1,000 other men.
How
does Samson do it? There’s no question that it was God’s strength: “The
Spirit of the Lord came powerfully upon him.” All credit, all glory,
belongs to God and God alone. Jesus once said that with God, nothing is
impossible. God gets done the things that he wants done.
Unfortunately,
another thing you’ll see today (in Judges 15:16) is that Samson takes
credit for God’s power. He was arrogant. Arrogance is always born out of
our insecurities. When we don’t know who we are in Christ, most of us
look to pride to try to fill that void—just like Samson did.
Many
of us try to define ourselves by our accomplishments, to find our worth
in what we’ve done, instead of in the One we belong to. We want to rely
on our achievements, our victories, our trophies, our wins to define
us, instead of acknowledging God as the source of all good things in our
lives. And like Samson, we want to get the credit. We want to be known
as “a winner,” “a beast,” “a leader,” “a man’s man,” “somebody.”
Pride
can be intoxicating. But the hangover is hell. We’re human; we do have
(many) limitations, and we need to rely on God. If you lose sight of
your identity and try to convince yourself that you’re a legend, you’ll
miss the true legend in your life: that the God who made the universe
calls you his son.
What’s defining you? Remember, you only get this one life. Whose name are you trying to make great?
(taken from the YouVersion Fight Devotional)
