"TOOTING YOUR OWN HORN"

I Was Just Thinking About – “TOOTING YOUR OWN HORN.”

I suspect most people have had more than enough of political rhetoric over the past several months. It seems as though governing has become secondary to campaigning for re-election. One advantage to this new day in politics is that (a) it allows for less television viewing, and (b) you hear your telephone ring more frequently on a daily basis with robot-calls and surveys ad nauseam (usually at mealtime). The new age politician has carried the “tooting your own horn” to the extreme. They seem to think the public is naïve or ignorant and will believe all the campaign “promises”(?) that are made but all too soon forgotten IF they are successful in being elected.

However, this Blog is not about modern politics as it is about how one sees himself/herself and whether or not they are motivated in any particular lifestyle choice and identity. While I was a Freshman in College, I had the special privilege of knowing a very gifted trumpet player. He along with a graduate student and I were selected to be a Trumpet Trio. Admittedly, they covered my errors by their skill and ability. When the yearbook was published, the counsel of the lead trumpeter was also written by him alongside my picture: “keep tooting your own horn because no one else will toot it for you.” I have thought about that often over the years on whether or not that counsel should be embraced and followed. It was crystallized further when a colleague in ministry said to me: “You have selected the wrong friends. They cannot be of any use to you. You need to select friends who can help you gain better and key positions.”

I never quite understood those who counseled the above as I compared it with Micah 6:8, “He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love kindness, and to walk humbly with your God?” The words that have resonated within me are: “AND WHAT DOES THE LORD REQUIRE OF YOU?” To me, it is inescapable that He wants one “to do justice, to love kindness, and to walk humbly…” In Chapter One of his book, NO LITTLE PEOPLE, Francis A. Schaeffer wrote: “The Scripture emphasizes that much can come from little if the little is truly consecrated to God. There are no little people and no big people in the true spiritual sense, but only consecrated and unconsecrated people. The problem for each of us is applying this truth to ourselves: is Francis Schaeffer the Francis Schaeffer of God?”

Applying that question, we need to ask: “Am I the person of God that He wants me to be for Him?” Francis A. Schaeffer went on to say: “We must remember throughout our lives that in God’ s sight there are no little people and no little places. Only one thing is important: to be consecrated persons in God’s place for us, at each moment.” One other inescapable truth and instruction in God’s Word is found in Philippians 2:3-4, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves.  Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others.”

When I wrote the book, REALIZING SIGNIFICANCE, one reviewer observed: “We are all familiar with the story of Jesus and the Disciples' journey into a fierce windstorm at sea. It took James Perry's latest book, Realizing Significance, to cause me to delve further into Marks writing (Mark 4:36-37). Did you know that "other little boats were also with Him?" While reading my Bible I tended to fixate on Jesus and the Disciples and neglected to notice other small boats dealing with the storm. James Perry's metaphor asks - How often are we so busy paying attention to one thing or another that we miss what is happening on the margin? Realizing Significance aspires for its readers to take on the personality of Barnabas and become an encourager/nurturer to those who are over-looked such as orphans or our hungry.”

Prayerfully – consider these things with me.