What does it mean to "glorify" God?
Is the purpose of “glorifying” God to make Him attractive to the world? What I see in scripture is that to glorify Him means to represent God accurately.
Paul makes his argument pretty strongly in 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 when he writes that the message of Christ is foolishness to the world. To those who accept the truth, the message is beautiful, refreshing. To those who reject it, it is loathsome and foolishness – it becomes a thing they try to destroy.
When the “glory of the Lord” appeared on Sinai, it looked to the Israelites not like a dazzling white gown, but a terrible, consuming fire (Exodus 24:17) In Numbers 14:21-22 it is the “glory of the Lord” that wreaked havoc on the Egyptians; not an attractive sight if you are Egyptian.
However, the “glory of the Lord” also causes his people to fall down on their knees and worship Him, declaring His goodness (2Chronicles 7:3) God’s glory is displayed in His wonderful works in nature (Psalm 104:31-32)
In scripture, God’s “glory” is reflected in His dreadful judgment of evil, His gracious love toward His people, and in his graceful beauty in the world. All of these things don’t necessarily make Him look “attractive” but they do show Him for who He is.
Paul said that “we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and to those who are perishing. To one we are the smell of death, to the other, the fragrance of life.” (2 Cor. 2:15-16) Christ came “full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14) and, being himself was rejected by men – it wasn’t the grace part they hated, but the truth.
Jesus is defined as “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being.” (Hebrews 1:3) If we as a church, the body of Christ, are to “glorify” God, I believe our primary task will be to represent Him as accurately as possible.
Feel free to offer suggestions about what this means for us as a church. My next post will offer some suggestions.
Paul makes his argument pretty strongly in 1 Corinthians 1:18-25 when he writes that the message of Christ is foolishness to the world. To those who accept the truth, the message is beautiful, refreshing. To those who reject it, it is loathsome and foolishness – it becomes a thing they try to destroy.
When the “glory of the Lord” appeared on Sinai, it looked to the Israelites not like a dazzling white gown, but a terrible, consuming fire (Exodus 24:17) In Numbers 14:21-22 it is the “glory of the Lord” that wreaked havoc on the Egyptians; not an attractive sight if you are Egyptian.
However, the “glory of the Lord” also causes his people to fall down on their knees and worship Him, declaring His goodness (2Chronicles 7:3) God’s glory is displayed in His wonderful works in nature (Psalm 104:31-32)
In scripture, God’s “glory” is reflected in His dreadful judgment of evil, His gracious love toward His people, and in his graceful beauty in the world. All of these things don’t necessarily make Him look “attractive” but they do show Him for who He is.
Paul said that “we are to God the aroma of Christ among those who are being saved and to those who are perishing. To one we are the smell of death, to the other, the fragrance of life.” (2 Cor. 2:15-16) Christ came “full of grace and truth.” (John 1:14) and, being himself was rejected by men – it wasn’t the grace part they hated, but the truth.
Jesus is defined as “the radiance of God’s glory and the exact representation of his being.” (Hebrews 1:3) If we as a church, the body of Christ, are to “glorify” God, I believe our primary task will be to represent Him as accurately as possible.
Feel free to offer suggestions about what this means for us as a church. My next post will offer some suggestions.
posted by Daniel Cherry at 12:32 PM
3 Comments:
I think that we can "glorify" God by trying to always do the right thing. Our 2 year old,is crazy about his baby sister. When she cries he immediately goes and finds her pacifier and tries to put it in. Being a 2 year old he has a hard time putting it in her mouth. He will stick it in her cheek, smash her nose with it, or put it in upside down, but the beautiful thing about it is that his heart is in the right place. He is trying his best to help her to do the right thing and as he keeps trying he will eventually learn the correct way to put it in. As his mother he makes me proud. I can just imagine that God feels the same way when we try do the right thing. Instead of ignoring a person(or lost soul)crying out for help we go and help them, fill their need, teach them about Jesus. I think this is one way we can bring glory to God.
Thank you, Rachael. Trying to do the right thing in this way, and not being ashamed of imperfection glorifies God by reflecting humility, sincerity, concern for for the well-being of others and honesty. Great suggestion!
so you and your wife use this as means to talk to eachother? is there something wrong here?
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