8 When the crowd saw this, they were filled with awe; and they praised God, who had given such authority to man.
When God is at work He gets the glory. That is one of the ways you can tell who is at work. If people are talking good about a person, maybe God really isn’t at work. Or maybe the people have the wrong focus. Either way, some correction needs to take place. Even when Jesus was performing miracles, people praised God. When a ministry is really doing what the Lord wants, people will be praising God. They won’t be focused on a particular personality. The leader won’t be the center of attention. This can be difficult for the leader to continue to move out of people’s gaze. It can be hard to not accept some of the credit. Even leaders need to feel good about what they do, from time to time. So a true leader must continue to pass the praise on to the Lord, even when it is directed at them. And it must be a genuine humility that passes on the praise, not just lip service to humility. The ministry will suffer eternal consequences if the praise ends with the leader as its object. All humans are weak and fallible. All it takes is a little pride, and the downfall is on the way.
The Arnold Journey 