When we do service in Jesus’ name, we are to do it to the glory of the Lord. This daily devotional looks at how we are to do that as we walk with God.
Nuggets
- Throughout our daily activities, we are to glorify God.
- There are so many things for which we can worship and glorify God.
Devotions in the In Jesus’ Name series
We are looking at Wilkinson’s sermon entitled Doing All in the Name of Christ. In this part of the sermon, he is discussing the actions disciples are to do.
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In this devotion, we are going to discuss glory. I know. That word can mean several things. Let’s dig in.
Let's Put It into Context #1
Here is a running list of nuggets for the series.
Let's Put It into Context #2
Glory expresses the majesty, splendor, and beauty representing the attributes of God resulting from the authority and holiness of God.
We give God glory or honor by worshiping Him alone after we have repented of our sin. We also do this by loving Him and others and obeying Him.
Eating and Drinking
“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do …” (I Cor. 10: 31 ESV)
Throughout our daily activities, we are to glorify God.
I don’t know how many times I have run across the phrase eating and drinking in Scriptures and shook my head. It just seems to me that it is such an ordinary thing to be shining a light on.
But if we think about it, it really isn’t. What the phrase really means is what we are supposed to do as we live our lives.
It is what we do on our walk. Walking is the term used to describe how we live our lives. Walking with God means we are humble, reverent, teachable servants of God.
Think about it. God doesn’t want us to be his children just when we are sitting in His house on a Sunday morning. He wants this to be even more than our way of life.
God wants it to be who we are at the heart level.
In our Redo for Godliness last year, we said that godly perfection was about being, not doing. It was about imitating Him so that we become more like Him.
Life is made up of small things and big things. That means we need to be like God in the small things and the big things.
I know. We think the small things are … small. They aren’t.
Wadsworth made an interesting comment about this. He wrote, “That the absence of small graces destroys the very essence of the greater.”
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Ooo, baby. Dig into that a second.
The big things can’t be the big things if the small things are not in their correct place. The little things are important, too.
We can look at it another way. The big things are connected to the small things, and vice versa.
One doesn’t operate without the other one.
To God’s Glory
“… do all to the glory of God” (I Cor. 10: 31 ESV)
There are so many things for which we can worship and glorify God.
- God is all-powerful.
- God shows us mercy.
- God is strong.
- God is Creator and Ruler of the world.
All creation gives God glory. We live in a beautiful, intricate world that He has made.
There is an order to God’s world. Even in our work for Him, there is order as all of disciples’ ministries serve one purpose — expanding His kingdom.
How is the best way to give God glory? Repent.
Repentance is acknowledging our separation from God and expressing sorrow for breaking God’s laws and commandments by making the commitment to change our sinful ways to ways of righteousness through obedience.
- Sins are actions by humans that disobey God and break one of His reasonable, holy, and righteous laws and commandments, goes against a purpose He has for us, or follows Satan’s promptings.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Spiritual graces are worldly morals that have been submitted to God to further His kingdom instead of enhancing this world.
- Sanctified means to be set free from sin.
- Righteous means we are free from sin because we are following God’s moral laws.
- Pure means not being sinful or having the stain of sin.
- Virtues are standards of moral excellence.
- Perfection means we reach a state of maturity because the combination of the spiritual graces form, when all are present, spiritual wholeness or completeness — holy, sanctified, and righteous.
- Holy means to be set apart — because of our devotion to God — to become perfect, and morally pure while possessing all virtues.
- Obedience means submitting ourselves to the will of God as it is presented to us and living our lives accordingly.
Glossary
Did you catch all of the parts?
- We recognize we are not in a relationship with God and doing things He doesn’t like.
- We ask forgiveness for that.
- We grow closer to Him and stop doing that of which He doesn’t approve because we give Him authority in our lives.
What we are striving for is intentional holiness. We must make a conscious decision to habitually follow God’s laws and commandments, making us holy.
Making the Connections
We know that nothing we do is going to increase or decrease God’s glory. It comes from Himself.
God allows us to worship Him. He wants to have a relationship with Him.
How Do We Apply This?
- Keep God ever on our minds as we live our lives.
- Commit to keeping God’s laws and commandments and ask forgiveness when we break them.
- Live to glorify God in all that we do — even if we feel it is everyday, mundane activities.
- Let God be the Lord of the big and the small in our lives.
- Choose to be happy.
- Worship God through praise and thanksgiving.
- Perform the correct outward actions from the correct inward motives.
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Murray cautioned that we need to be careful how we apply living for God’s glory. The example he used was that of a butcher. He wrote “A butcher is doing his duty; but it would be nonsense to ask him if he used his knife for the glory of God.”
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I can see that. Murray said that means we need to apply this generally. He said it is to influence our lives, not our feelings.
We do give God glory when we worship Him through praise and thanksgiving. We give Him even more glory when we become a living sacrifice for Him.
Father God. We worship You with praise and thanksgiving. We do it to keeping Your laws and commandments. We pray that we submit every hour, every day of our lives to You. May all of our actions come from motives that glorify You. Amen.
What do you think?
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