This is a question Jesus had for those who were ticked off at Him for doing good things for people on the Sabbath. He was speaking to a group that was so tied up with their traditions, their authority among God's people, and their own glory that they had come to the point of being OK with people continuing in their suffering on Saturdays in order to keep their thumb on the Great Physician. It was tragic in so many ways. It was tragic for the people that they were supposed to be shepherding because there was no true care going on; to their leaders it was all about control and not about serving. It was in a sense "tragic" for the ministry of Jesus because of how it would lead to His execution (through which, of course, He ultimately had victory). But it was tragic also for the religious leaders because their own hearts became hardened to the point of disbelief through the seeking of their own praise and glory. Misplaced glorification squelches belief.
If you're like me, you don't mind a bit of praise. That doesn't mean that we want the big spotlight in front of a crowd necessarily; that might terrify us depending on our personality. But we're alright with having glory terminate on us and having people know that we're tops in this or that little area...that place in which we like to sparkle like a little diamond. And when that happens, we believe a little less that God is the One who is truly awesome, that He is the One that should completely astonish us. When you and I start seeking praise for ourselves, we slowly quit seeing our areas of giftedness as gifts from our Dad who made us and instilled those things in us. Over time then, we start to give our own ideas and words a kind of authority that they weren't ever really meant to have. We believe God's Word just a little bit less and don't see it as the ultimate trump card that it really is over everything that we think and produce. Again, belief dies a little bit each time we misplace glory.
We've got to learn the lesson from the lives of the Jewish big shots of Jesus' day. They bought in to their own philosophies and would rather have people dead than be challenged by the God they said they worshiped. Everything was turned on its head and their hearts were hardened against belief in their Messiah. Are we willing to have God call all the shots even for very motives of our hearts in order that those motives might be pure...in order that our words and actions and lives are rightly directed? God motivation is a guardian of belief.
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