GLORY THIEVES!

Whoa, what a subject to write about! Just thinking about it gives me the creeps for this is such a heavy subject for me because its effects are quite damaging to everyone who has interacted with glory thieves.

Who are glory thieves? What are glory thieves? After Jacob had struggled under Laban for 14 years, he got tired of it, he got tired of asking Laban for proper remuneration and decided to engage God and God gave him a vision on how to acquire flocks. Jacob engaged the strategy God gave him, risky, but worth the risk and sure enough, he became stinking rich. He had goats, sheep, donkeys, camels and servants all under his oppressor’s watch/clock. This was a man who had oppressed him faithfully and reduced his wages 10 times. All the efforts Laban had made to become rich at Jacob’s expense whilst deliberately impoverishing him had come to naught. He couldn’t curse or keep down a man blessed by God. Jacob emerged victorious.

When Jacob finally escaped from Laban with his possessions, Laban went after him in hot pursuit because his intentions about Jacob were impure. He would have harmed him had God not warned him not to. Nonetheless, Laban caught up with Jacob after 7 days and immediately started hurling insults at Jacob in order to provoke a fight so that he can have an excuse to still harm Jacob and perhaps dispossess him of his animal wealth. Amongst other things that Laban said to Jacob, he also said, “These women are my daughters, and these children are my grandchildren, and these flocks and all that you have – all are mine. But what can I do now to my own daughters and grandchildren?”

Really Laban, really? This statement sends shivers down my spine. It also deflates me. It’s infuriating. It’s undermining. It’s demeaning. It’s provocative. It’s insulting. It’s undressing and quite disrespectful.

After you have tricked Jacob over his first wages by giving him Leah instead of Rachel! After you have reduced his wages 10 times – which also includes Leah (which was hurtful to Leah for her to hear that she was adjudged to be a reduction of wages)! After you have made Jacob pay for every lost animal and every animal eaten by wild animals! After you have made Jacob work under the scorching heat of the day and the coldest and sleepless nights! After you have recruited your sons to hate Jacob such that they started grumbling over his acquisition of wealth! After instilling fear in Jacob that he left without bidding farewell as an escape! After all this negative impact you have had on his life, you have the guts to say this to Jacob?

Did you give Jacob any chance Laban? Did you wish him well? Did you give him anything for free? We know from his statements that he worked for everything that he had, some of which he spoke in your presence and you didn’t dispute, meaning you agreed that he worked for everything he had. If he worked to acquire his “wives”, why are you laying claim on his wages? Yes, they were your daughters, but they were paid for and Jacob could relocate with them anywhere he wants without owing you anything except love. If Jacob employed his own strategy to multiply his flocks and they multiplied, how are they yours? How dare you claim all the things Jacob worked for all his 20 years in Paddan-aram? How dare you strip Jacob of all that he owns? How dare you undermine his efforts by claiming what gave him dignity and glory. If all these are yours, then what did Jacob do with his 20 years? Did he sit around and not work? That’s not fair.

I know, Laban is one of those individuals I have interacted with so many times who appears at someone’s crowning moment and start talking about how they did this and that for that person. “I paid for his first year at University” – when the person is graduating. Why do you want to divert people’s attention from celebrating this person into focusing on what he didn’t have, which you had and you came through for him/her, therefore all attention must now go to you. Why? Why must people now say, “if so and so hadn’t stepped in, he wouldn’t have graduated.” Didn’t he attend classes, study and apply himself for 5 years at the University? Didn’t he do his assignments and write exams that he passed with merit? Why must his hard work be flushed down the drain by you mentioning how God used you to help this person? Are you desiring rewards from the guests at this graduation? Why must the Graduand’s head sink (in shame and/or embarrassment) on that day when he/she should be celebrating his/her hard work at the same time grateful you came through for him/her, only you wanted it shouted out aloud at the rooftop, it’s not enough that in his/her heart of hearts he/she is deeply grateful for you and to you?

Glory thieves dig out the past, even if it is a good past, so long as they are involved in it, it must be known. Glory thieves steal other people’s hard work by slotting themselves into the equation regardless of how far back they were involved. One of my little sisters got married when she was fellowshipping at a particular church. She then moved on to another country and then another. One day 9 years later and after she had posted a picture on Facebook, happy with me because I had visited her over in that country she got an email from her former Pastor admonishing her to “remember where she came from and how she even got the husband that she had”. Oops!

Can she please get a break? Can she please enjoy the blessings of the Lord over her life without anyone reminding her of how she got them? Can she please host whosoever she wants without being made to feel bad or like she is doing something wrong? The blessing is hers, can she enjoy it? Can she just live her life without the burden of looking over her shoulder to see if she is pleasing to her former Pastor? Why must her former Pastor imprison her for having done what God has called him to do? It’s not that she isn’t grateful God used him in her life at some point, but it is not a debt she must pay all her life. When she is enjoying her life, does he have to remind her of any of his previous involvement? If the Pastor wants to visit her, why can’t he just ask her if she can host him and his family for a holiday? There is nothing wrong with that. He is not entitled to getting anything from her after all, therefore he mustn’t react with anger when she hosts other people who are not himself. She has other people in her life that matter to her too apart from him. Life is always greater than us no matter how much God uses us, let the people go and worship their God.

Glory thieves claim other people’s hard work as their own. If God used you to meet someone’s needs and they developed after that, why must you tie them down to that point of their lives for the rest of their lives? I know, because you desire your contribution to ever be mentioned in this person’s life even if they have moved on. Sometimes glory thieves get angry that you have moved on and are on a different level where you don’t ask from them anymore. This is sad and we see it in Laban and Jacob’s relationship, Laban sought to tie Jacob to his involvement in his life for life. Apart from tying him to his contribution, he also sought to just tie him down so that he can reign supreme over Jacob, thereby limiting what God wanted to do with Jacob’s life. Glory thieves actually do such, stealing from God, because Glory belongs to God after all.

Glory thieves end up living bitter lives at some point. Many of them count the number of times they have done this for so and so and now so and so doesn’t even call to check on them, they have done this for so many people and the people have left, well, did you give for them to stay or for them to grow and develop? Even God with so many things He does for us doesn’t force us to stay in one place, He actually gives us so that we can grow and glorify Him some more. Our contribution to other people’s lives should be for their good, not our fame, don’t give for you, give for them, that way your giving doesn’t hurt you, it becomes a deposit with God who is a rewarder of those that give cheerfully and willingly.

Glory thieves are covetous! Glory thieves say “I made Abraham rich” and they must be watched out for because they make a lot of noise for you when you have crossed over. At your wedding, they will whisper how they are the ones who prepared you for the wedding by giving you Pre-marital counseling. At your ordination they will whisper how they brought you to the Lord, they preached salvation to you. On your 20th Anniversary in marriage, they will tell how they once counseled you when your marriage was in jeopardy. All these statements are meant to take away from you. When you are spoken well of, they will bring out your weaknesses in the same vein so as to undress you of that praise.

Glory thieves struggle to see the results of their giving because they do not give with open hands, their hands are partially closed to retain the gifted ones in their palms. Because of that, they have no room to receive from God because their hands are full with the people they have imprisoned by their “giving.” In the long run, they start complaining about how giving doesn’t work as well as how ungrateful people are. Glory thieves usually expect to receive back from the same person they have given, they limit God from using other people to give back into their lives in abundance by their short-sightedness. They block their own “good measure, pressed down, shaken together and running over” being put in their bosom by man, whoever that is that God would have decided to use to bless them.

Glory thieves often feel short-changed when the person they helped moves on and starts relating with new people in their new phase. They feel robbed, they feel abandoned and rejected. Moving on is a sign of ingratitude to them because they do not perceive things with a pure eye. Just because someone is relating with new people doesn’t mean you are no longer appreciated, it means for that phase they need to interact with other people in view of their growth and where God is taking them. Be at peace with it if you do not want to become angry, bitter and unrewarded for your good works. Be free from regretting being there for them by accepting the developments in their lives, after all, your helping them meant you desired for them to grow.

Who would you have been without me? What could you have done without me? “All that you have is mine – because you gained it whilst under my employ,” says, small-minded employers/helpers. I repeat, there is no human being who has never been helped by another, we are made for inter-dependence by the all-wise God who hides different abilities in different people so that we can interact with each other and do life together. No one is above others’ help or can claim total independence. We all need each other and must release each other to fly. The problem is over-estimation of one’s involvement, which then causes one to stand on a self-erected pedestal above the rest and eventually ascribe glory to self.

Beware of glory thieves! They will make you feel like you are nothing if you allow them. They will make you feel useless and inadequate. They will steal your joy. They will steal your confidence and affect your self-worth too. They bring endless regrets and pain.