God created mankind to glorify Him. This daily devotional looks at how our purpose is to glorify God at all times in all circumstances.
Nuggets
- Mankind’s purpose is to glorify God.
- We should glorify God in the small things as well as the big things and at all times.
- We know nothing we do or don’t do will add to or detract from God’s glory.
Devotions in the Never Alone: The Holy Spirit in Our Lives series
Glorifying God can be a difficult concept to grasp for some. However, it is very important that we do.
We have to learn how to glorify God in every aspect of our lives. Let’s look at the advice Paul gave us.
Let's Put It into Context
Here is a running list of nuggets for the series.
Glorifying God
“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God” (I Cor. 10: 31 CSB)
Mankind’s purpose is to glorify God.
The end of the verse should be our mantra. Whatever we do, do it for the glory of God.
Short enough to remember. Simple enough to implement.
Whether it be a once-in-a-lifetime event or our everyday lives, God should be praised and glorified in all we do.
So, what does glorify mean? Glorify means to make glorious by bestowing honor, praise, or admiration.
- Glorious means possessing or deserving glory.
- Glory means worshipful praise, honor, and thanksgiving
We glorify God when we use what we learn from seeking Him to change our words and actions in order to obey and praise Him.
That is what guides our lives. We don’t compartmentalize our existence and just glorify God on Sunday mornings. Everything we do or say reflects on Him.
We should want to glorify God because we owe Him so much. He gave us life, and He will give us eternal life when we submit to Him.
Thomas warned us about motivation. He wrote, “A religious act done in a secular spirit is secular. A secular thing done in a religious spirit is religious.”
Resource
Our motivation is not to do things because of earthly reasons. We are to be motivated to do things to glorify God.
That proves that God is not just looking for good people. It isn’t the acts that we do or do not do. It is the motivation and purpose behind doing and not doing.
God created us to glorify Him. He wants our total submission to Him.
No, He isn’t planning on crushing us or taking away our freedom. He is giving us freedom from sin’s consequences.
God isn’t saying this can only be accomplished by saints like Paul. He says that Tom, Sally, and Elaine can do this.
We can have mustard seed faith and glorify God. We can be milk babies and glorify God.
But we should want to be more than that.
God gives us knowledge of what sin is. He grows us by helping us want to eliminate sin and have His character.
This starts by our accepting Jesus as our Savior and Lord. We do this when we ABCD.
The ABCDs of Salvation
If you have not become a believer in Christ, please read through the
Plan of Salvation and prayerfully consider what God is asking you to do.
A – admit our sins
B – believe His Son Jesus is our Redeemer
C – confess God as Sovereign Lord
D – demonstrate that commitment by making any changes needed in our lives to
live the way in which God has called us
The Disciple’s Job Description
Eating and Drinking
We should glorify God in the small things as well as the big things and at all times.
Let’s look at it this way. This is talking about eating and drinking. What if we limited our eating and drinking to one hour on Sunday mornings?
We would die.
Yet that is what we do when we try to compartmentalize God out of our secular lives. We limit His nourishing and growing us.
So, we die. Spiritually.
But just going to church is the religion. God is interested in the relationship.
What Glorifying God Does
We know nothing we do or don’t do will add to or detract from God’s glory.
God would still be God if He had never created us. What we do just highlights the glory that is already in Him.
Think about it this way. Let’s say someone compliments us on our kindness (and we don’t slough it off). Does that make us more kind? Usually not.
But it does give us a nice, warm feeling for a while, doesn’t it? It affects our feelings about ourselves.
Our praise gives God that feeling.
So, what should we do to glorify God. The best thing we can do is to seek Him.
We should show Him that He has priority in our lives. We should strive to grow in grace and knowledge (II Pet. 3: 18).
Searching for and Seeking God
Hearing His Word (Rom. 10: 17).
Reading His Word (Rev. 1: 3).
Praying to Him (Heb. 4: 16).
Studying His Word (Ac. 17: 11).
Meditating on His Word (Ps. 1: 1-2).
Memorizing His Word (Ps. 119: 11).
We should believe as Paul did. “I have been crucified with Christ. It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me. And the life I now live in the flesh I live by faith in the Son of God, who loved me and gave himself for me” (Gal. 2: 20 ESV).
Glorifying God is all about submitting to Him. We die to ourselves and live in Christ. We become His children.
Glossary
Making the Connections
Wadsworth gave us a good reminder. He wrote, “Even sin is working out God’s declarative glories — like the thick cloud, a background for His rainbows; like the black night, revealing His stars. The moving invitations of the gospel are not urged lest God should come short of His ultimate glory.”
Resource
Let’s process that. We want sin out of our lives. We want to perfectly follow God’s laws and commandments His way.
Without sin, we lose some of God’s glory. God isn’t praised as He could — should — be.
Face it. When things are on an even keel, do we praise God as much as we should? Or do we think we are handling life on our own?
We need to praise God.
How Do We Apply This?
- Constantly have God on our minds.
- Live a life without sin by resisting temptation and repenting of any sins committed.
- Commit to glorifying God and all that we do, whether deemed secular or religious.
- Make sure God is God of the little things as well as the big things.
- Give God His due in everything and recognize His hand in all of our activities.
- Acknowledge God’s authority over and ownership of us.
- Serve to please God.
- Keep our faith in God, especially before, during, and after bad circumstances.
- Strive to do better at following God’s Will.
- Acknowledge where God has placed us at in this world.
- Get better at seeking God.
- Evaluate all situations to see how we are glorifying God in all things.
- Glorify God by being humble.
Resource
Father God. We praise Your name. We know that nothing we can do can add to or detract from Your glory. But we worship You. Thank You for allowing us to do that. Thank You for designing the Plan of Salvation so that we could approach You to as for forgiveness. Help us to live our lives so that everything we do glorifies You. Amen.
What do you think?
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