If you were to
randomly interview folks and ask them what it means to glorify God, what kind
of answers would you get? You would hear answers such as singing praises,
giving money or time, serving others, praying, reading your Bible, going to
church, speaking out for God, etc. There is nothing wrong with any of these
answers, but is this truly what glorifies God?
Because of our
performance driven culture, we have been programmed to focus on outcomes. In
other words, there is a goal or outcome we strive to reach. Until the outcome
is achieved, we seem to feel incomplete or lacking. This mind-set has been
transferred to how we approach glorifying God. We see glorifying God as an
outcome of something we do.
Were the first
human beings driven to achieve? Did they focus on the works of their hands as
something that would hopefully bring glory to God? I think the answer to both
those questions is “no.” They did not have a Bible to study, rote prayers to
recite, a church to attend, or a cause to champion. They simply expressed
moment by moment the life they contained.
Glorifying God
has never been about outcomes. In applying a deeper understanding of who God
is, we can quickly realize that God is not dependent on outcomes. He can speak the
non-existent into existence. He does not live for tomorrow. God is content, He
is peaceful, He is joyful, and He is Life and Light and Love. He is not waiting
for or in need of something to happen before He can experience all that He is.
There is
nothing in creation that can produce something God needs because God needs
nothing. He is complete in and of Himself. Whenever you look at a mountain you
can see the expression of God’s glory, yet the mountain does nothing to produce
glory for God. The mountain is what it is. The mere fact that God created the
mountain is the expression of His glory.
You and I have
been misled to believe that we must produce an outcome in order for God to be
glorified. Glory is and has always been about expression. We were made for
expressing God’s greatest glory – the expression of God’s Life, Light, and
Love. Whenever we love we are expressing glory; whenever we are patient we are
expressing glory; whenever we are gentle we are expressing glory, etc.
You might say,
“Ok, I know I can sometimes be patient, but most of the time I am not.” You are
now focused on the outcome. In other words, one day you hope to be a patient
person all the time. God is not waiting for you to be patient all the time, He
wants you to trust Him and express patience in the moment. No matter how many
times you have failed to express patience, those failures will not overshadow
the times that you are. God is glorified every time we trust Him and allow Him
to express Himself in and through us. This is only accomplished in total
surrender to His presence in us.
I want to stop
focusing on the past – all the moments I failed to express God’s glory. I also
want to stop focusing on the future – hoping I will always express God’s glory
in all that I do. God is teaching me to look at Him now and trust Him now and
to cease looking to the past or to the future. I am so glad that God is not
about outcomes, but revels in the moment-by-moment expressions of His Life in
me!
