06/30/2020
We are meant to glorify God, but so often we don’t see ourselves as being very successful at it. However, that should remain our great desire, and ambition. Do we try to compensate for our feeling of failure by doing physical things in the world to make us appear glorious? If we strive to please God by boasting glory before others then we have lost sight of what He wants of us. Our actions aren’t meant to be for our own glory... but His alone. If we yield ourselves completely to His will, and do everything in our lives for His glory, then truly we have come to know God.
“to him be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus throughout all generations, forever and ever. Amen.”
Ephesians 3:21 ESV
We can build grand cathedrals but until we humble ourselves before God in them, then they are nothing but echoes, and emptiness. We can stand in the pulpit on the Sabbath dressed in the finest robes and surrounded by religious regalia with much pomp, and ceremony, but unless we are humbly doing God’s will, and preaching His Word there, we are just finely adorned dust... blowing in the wind. One word from God carries with it more glory than all the words of man ever written, ever spoken. So our works, and our words should be presented to the world to glorify God, and for that purposes only... or else all our great effort and grand regalia withers and dies, just as the wind blows by... and is gone. Our works, and our faith, are meant to glorify God alone...
“Nor do people light a lamp and put it under a basket, but on a stand, and it gives light to all in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.”
Matthew 5:15-16 ESV
Some of us are given grand things to accomplish, while others are asked to perform the small, and seemingly insignificant things for God, but how large and how small these things appear to us are only judged to be so based on our own human feelings of worth, and our Inadequate perception of glory. King David didn’t appear to be much to his fellow men while tending sheep and throwing stones with his sling, nor did he look like much more than a dead man when he walked out onto the field to face Goliath, but God saw him differently, and the giant was slain with a small stone from this boy’s sling. From these unlikely beginnings David became a king who lacked much decorum, and sinned greatly, but He loved God, and always sought His forgiveness in tears of contrition for his failures... out of an unlikely pasture, came a man of brokenness, weakness in the face of temptation, and yet someone who humbled himself before the Lord, danced unclothed before the Arc of the Covenant, and yes...glorified Him. This was the man that God referred to as a man after His own heart. Listen to the prophet Samuel as he tells king Saul of David’s future rise:
“But now your kingdom shall not continue. The Lord has sought out a man after his own heart, and the Lord has commanded him to be prince over his people, because you have not kept what the Lord commanded you.””
1 Samuel 13:14 ESV
So who do we intend to glorify with our works and words today? Who do we glorify with our elegance, position, wealth, powerful words, or even our puffed up faith, and flaunted knowledge of God’s Word? If all of these things, and everything in our lives, are not meant to accomplish God’s will, and glorify Him, then we are lost, and we will find in the end, that what we perceived to be our glorious work has crumbled, and blown away; what God promised to last generations will have died with our last breath, and the judgement of Christ...
“On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ And then will I declare to them, ‘I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’”
Matthew 7:22-23 ESV
Prayer:
Father, thank you for shining upon us with all your glory, and for allowing us to bring you even more as we do your will, and glorify you in everything brought forth in our lives, and by our faith. Thank you Lord for your Son Jesus who taught us how to obey your will, and to glorify you. Help us Holy Father to resist the temptation of claiming your glory for ourselves, and being pleased by what we see when looking in the mirror. Holy, Holy, Holy, are you our God whose glorious light shines forth brighter than the sun, and to whom all glory is due. Praised be your name Father as we glorify you in all we do each day to honor you in word, and deed. Greater are you than all that is in the world, and every god that man has created for himself. Hear our prayers of confession, and contrition Lord, and meet them with your mercy and grace. Guide us by your Holy Spirit as we seek to do your will, and continue bring glory to you. Help us in our humility, and pour out your blessings upon our children, and children’s children as we place your will above our own, and serve as mere reflections of your light... now, and forevermore.
“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!”
Psalm 115:1 ESV
Rich Forbes