“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
1 Corinthians 10:31
Last week, our Session (teaching elders and ruling elders) approved a new mission statement that says,
We glorify God and make disciples by:
Connecting People to Christ
through small acts of great love
every day.
Paul tells the Corinthians to glorify God in all that they do. What does glorify mean? We glorify celebrities in how we fawn over them. But because God is good, perfect and holy, glorifying him is perfectly right because he deserves it. God doesn’t need humans to glorify him as if he is an insecure deity with a penchant for people to praise him. Instead, we need to glorify God daily if we are to be rightly related to God, ourselves, others and the world. Our lives are out of whack when we fail to glorify God above any other things.
When I speak about how to glorify God, I usually say it means to reveal God’s goodness. When Paul teaches us to glorify God in all that we do, we ask ourselves if God’s goodness was revealed:
In my speech today.
With how I spent money.
In how I spent time with him in prayer and reading God’s word.
In my relationships.
With my thoughts.
The first part of our mission statement says we exist to glorify God, which not only reminds us of Scripture, but of our Reformed Confessions. The Westminster Catechism starts with this question and answer:
Q. What is the chief end of man?
A. Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him forever.
We exist to glorify God and it makes sense that the Church, Christ’s bride, exists to glorify God. We naturally ask, "How is the goodness of the Father revealed in how we show mercy and point to his holiness? How is the goodness of Jesus Christ revealed as we speak of the grace he bestowed upon us through the cross? How is the goodness of the Spirit revealed in our fellowship with one another and serving others?"
As we memorize our new mission statement, it all begins with glorifying God. May we reveal God’s goodness in some small but significant way today, in all that we do.
LIVING INTO GOD’S WORD
Go through your day and think about how you can reveal God’s goodness in some situation. Would that involve saying something or perhaps not saying something? Could there be a specific action you are going to take that will reveal God’s goodness? Be creative as our God is so multi-faceted in his goodness that there are endless possibilities of pointing to him.
PRAYER
Father, you deserve all of our praise and yet we need to praise you instead of you needing our praise. We ask that as followers of you, we will be good representatives of your goodness that is found perfectly in Jesus. Spirit, empower us to love another in spite of differences, thus pointing to your goodness and revealing the hope we have because of your love. Teach us that glorifying you is the most joyful life a human can ever experience. Amen.