But,
when King Uzziah became great and powerful, he became conceited and proud. This
led to his destruction, as he entered the temple and sinned against God by
lighting the incense on the altar of incense. (2 Chronicles 26:16)
Do you ever over-rule the rules? Often,
those who achieve great success and become powerful start to think of
themselves as being exceptional. The ethical constraints may then come to be
viewed as necessary only to control others who aren’t quite so exceptional.
This is a dangerous place to be. God opposes this kind of pride (Proverbs 3:34,
et al).
Uzziah not only did wrong by taking on the
role of the priests, but when eighty of the priests came to him to correct him,
he became angry with them for challenging his authority. Immediately, leprosy
began to appear on his forehead. His rule was over. His great and powerful
history was reduced to a legacy of having disobeyed God and having to die a
humiliating death as a leper. Pride inevitably will lead to the loss of power
and influence.
God’s leaders must resist the temptation to
become arrogant. The opportunity to finish well is forfeited when power and
authority lead to - even well-meaning – even benevolent - arrogance.
No comments:
Post a Comment