Monday, October 31 – Acts 12:20-23

Now he was very angry with the people of Tyre and Sidon; and with one mind they came to him, and having won over Blastus the king’s chamberlain, they were asking for peace, because their country was supported with grain from the king’s country. On an appointed day, after putting on his royal apparel, Herod took his seat on the rostrum and began delivering an address to them. The people repeatedly cried out, “The voice of a god and not of a man!” And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.

One of the hallmarks of a good research paper is using quality outside sources to add to your argument. If you’re trying to convince someone of your findings, citing other scholarly works lends credibility to your presentation. When we learn to do this in school, we’re taught to cite our sources to avoid the error of plagiarism. Plagiarism is when you take someone else’s work and sign off on it as your own. Plagiarism is a serious offense; it completely undermines the credibility of an argument and can lead to being expelled from an academic community. Citations serve the crucial role of giving credit where credit is due.

The appeal of plagiarism is you can get all the credit for something of value, but at its core, it is an empty lie with no reward. This is the lie Herod fell for. He wanted to build himself up. He wanted to establish his authority by taking down others. When people started to recognize him for the authority he had been fighting for, his cheating scheme was exposed. All along, he had been fighting for authority and a throne that was not his because it truly belonged to God.

When we take credit for everything that has been done in our lives, we miss out on giving credit to the One who has tied our story together and given us all that we need. God deserves the glory for every work He has done in our lives, and He takes it seriously when we hold this back from Him.

• When have you been tempted to take credit for something God has done?
• What would it look like to take glorifying God seriously?
• Pray and repent for the times you have not given God the glory He deserves.