On arriving at Lystra, Paul and Barnabas are preaching the good news.
There sits a man who has never walked. He listens to Paul attentively. Paul looks directly at him, sees that he has faith to be healed and calls out, “Stand up on your feet!”
At that moment, the man jumps up and begins to walk.
Seeing what Paul has done, the crowd shout, “The gods have come down to us in human form!”
The priest of their temple brings bulls and wreaths to the city gates because he and the crowd want to offer sacrifices to the two men. When the apostles Paul and Barnabas hear of this, they are astonished and rush out into the crowd, shouting: “Men, why are you doing this? We too are only men, human like you. We are bringing you good news, telling you to turn from these worthless things to the living God, who made heaven and earth and sea and everything in them.”
Even with these words, they have difficulty keeping the crowd from sacrificing to them.
No one dislikes being honored and praised. But the apostles Paul and Barnabas did not forget to give glory to God in any circumstances because they knew that all things were done by God.
When the work of God is displayed through us, we may become arrogant unwittingly. Arrogance comes when we are under the illusion, ‘I did it,’ which is a shortcut to destruction.
Let us give glory to God in everything. The glory never disappears but returns.
“When we give glory to God, that glory will be ours in the end.” From the Teachings of Mother