Bringing God Glory -Part 1

Sad to say, but when some people saw the title of today's post, they went right on past it. I spend a lot of time writing and talking about bringing God glory and living your life in such a way that it does glorify God. I thought it would be good to outline for you what that means.

Pastor Tim Keller writes in Gospel Christianity, "In the simplest terms possible, to glorify God means to make Him the most important thing in your life."

One simple question: is He? Is He the most important thing in your life? Upon reflection, I guess that question is not so simple after all!

To answer in the affirmative you have to trust Him more than anything else and to obey Him unconditionally. Hold it right there...."Trust Him more than anything else?" Does that mean you have to trust Him more than your own wisdom? That you trust Him more than conventional wisdom? That you trust Him more than your best friend, husband, mother or father?

Furthermore, one must also obey Him unconditionally! Now, who can do that? Obeying Him is not so hard or "bad" when it doesn't come at personal cost. When I must say "no" to something I really didn't want to do anyway. Obeying Him is unbelievably hard when I have to deny myself and my own desires for righteousness sake.

We can be pretty good at that denial stuff in certain areas but no one has it down in all areas of life. I would hazard a guess that most of you reading this could think of a number of areas you would struggle with obedience in- simply because they go against the desires of your heart.

I will lead the way and disclose that one place I struggle with is food. Both the eating and not eating of food. I want to eat things I like that just happen to be chips, salsa, sweets, pastry and junk like that. My heart is indulged and pleased by these choices because my desires are being fulfilled. I want what I want and I get what I want in this case.

I also struggle on the other end, where I would prefer at times to not eat at all, for days or weeks. I simply don't feel like it. Sometimes it is because something is bothering me and I use it as an excuse to indulge my sinful heart, other times I am listening to my feelings rather than truth. But in this case too, I want what I want and I will have what I want.

Both of these actions are disobedience. I am not obeying God unconditionally in these situations, I am living for self. I am not giving thought to whether my actions are enhancing or detracting from God's honor and glory.

When I disobey I am finding my joy and pleasure in something other than God and I am not finding my satisfaction in Him and Him alone. He is not my joy and my desire.

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