I’ve always been puzzled by the nursery rhyme “Little Jack Horner”:
Little Jack Horner sat in the corner, eating a Christmas pie; he put in his
thumb, and pulled out a plum, and said, “What a good boy am I!”
It seems rather odd that Jack is sitting in the corner with his plum-
covered thumb held high, and saying, “What a good boy am I!” It’s usually bad
boys who are sent to the corner for punishment. It seems he’s trying to draw
unwarranted attention to himself and is wanting credit for the pie.
We naturally want to draw attention to ourselves, to show off our
accomplishments and abilities. Sometimes we think that life is all about us.
But living like that is self-delusion at its worst. In reality, our sinfulness
has put us “in the corner,” from God’s point of view. Thankfully, Paul’s
testimony gives us the right perspective. In spite of his impressive
credentials, he gladly surrendered to the supremacy of Jesus: “But what things
were gain to me, these I have counted loss for Christ” (Phil. 3:7). Paul
admitted that in order to “gain Christ” (v.8), he had to lay all of his
trophies down.
So, give Jesus Christ the braggin’ rights of your life. Or, as Paul put
it, “He who glories, let him glory in the Lord” (1 Cor. 1:31)—not in yourself!
We are nothing without God, so give Him the credit. (RBC)
