Friday, April 17, 2009

How do we glorify God?

That's it........So how do we???? Any thoughts.........................

13 comments:

jul said...

Haha, you've been reading my mind! It's been a little pet peeve of mine for awhile, been bugging Aaron about it. Of course the answer we glorify God by improving our self-righteous behaviour, not by trusting fully and only in Jesus and his gift of righteousness.

lydia said...

Yeah, gee I hope I can glorify God today by being patient in affliction, being kind to my kids, not raising my voice, not this not that..........................making sure I do xyz well, blah blah blah........

I guess I am tired of hearing Christians equate glorifying God with how well they behave themselves!! Nuh uh............we glorify him the most by just accepting His free gift of salvation to us!!! Woohoo!! And perhaps even just believing that HE IS GOOD always always!!!

Ursula Kuba said...

Haha.

Ok you crazy nuts....I may be very...whats the word...naive? nah...very unlearned (ok words at 4:30am are not my strong point)...or maybe I just am not mature enough...but I think I'll just love Him and that will glorify Him?

Girls...we actually bought into the fact at one time that our actions can glorify God? Oish.

Our hearts position glorifies Him, and out of that, actions may flow that glorify Him...but its not the action but the heart position of loving Him and believing He is good?

Joel B. said...

Great question! It's something I've never really thought about, because I've (perhaps wrongfully) rejected the idea of "us" glorifying God, since it was always presented to me in such a legalistic way in the past. A case of me throwing out the baby with the bathwater, so to speak.

However, now in a different place, I looked up a few NT verses that might shine at least a little light on it. The word "glorify" is used in the following verses (in the NKJV) from the perspective of people glorifying God. Rom 15:5-13, 1 Cor 6:18-20, 1 Peter 14-16. Context would seem to be King in these passages. :)

As to the subject of "glory," John 17 is one of my most favorite passages. In it, Jesus is praying to the Father. He says that He has glorified the Father on the earth, and He asks that the Father glorify Himself together with Him, with the glory He had with Him "before the world was." He then goes on to say that the glory which the Father gave Him, He has given to US!... "that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me."

I'm realizing that I may as well just quote the entire chapter. :) It's all so good!!!

jul said...

It's like when you want to come up with things you want your church to be known for...many want to be known for how much they love God, I want my church to be known for how much God loves us! Much more dependable haha!

Yeah, I think I'll stick to boasting in Jesus...and revelling in his goodness.

Jordy's Thoughts said...

Lydia,

I once had a guy tell me, "God wants ALL the GLORY in your life!" He saw me as weak and new to the faith. It was almost condescending the more i think about it. And another friend of mine told me "You were created to GLORIFY God!"

Can we really give Jesus a bad name if we dont live according to biblical principles?

lydia said...

Jordy

I don't think it's possible to give Jesus a bad name based on our behaviour. Jesus is the name above all names forever and ever!!!
It's a drag though isn't it, being condescended by other more 'God glorifying' christians...........anyone who tells you, you need to do this or that can go take a good long hard look in the mirror first and take out their own daggone log............sheesh!!
Anyway you were created to enjoy God and out of that enjoying of God a whole lot of wonderful things will come..................

lydia said...

Joel,
I was hoping someone would have some Scripture to add to the mix, should have known it would be you!!!
Thanks for sharing....................!!!!

And Jul, so true, I am right there with you, stick to boasting in Jesus you can't go wrong!!!!!

Urs ~ it's cool that we can glorify God by just believing in Jesus and then receiving him as our very life~ He is the only one who could satisfy the Father perfectly and He now dwells in us, it's out of that heart position that we can glorify him, dang can I just say it again - HE DID IT ALL!!!! Thank you Jesus!!!!

Bino M. said...

I have heard people ending their prayer with "we give all the glory to you alone. In Jesus name. Amen!". It sounds as if God is a self-seeking God who need all the credit for everything we do.

I don't think that is the case.

It's not our puny works what glorifies God. Jesus glorified Him. Now when we put our faith in what Jesus did for us and walk in that truth by faith, He is glorified. "Without faith it is impossible to please God".

Jamie said...

Ummmm, I abandon myself to Him...like Mary who brought forth His life in her body. "Let it be to me according to Thy word."

Complete and total trust!! GLORIOUS!

Aida said...

The glory of God is man fully alive. - St. Irenaeus

I love this quote. I really believe God is glorified when we live as the people he created us to be. Glorify to me means to bring out into the open his goodness and his nature.

Birds glorify God by doing bird things. They don't sit around and wonder what they have to do to glorify God. They just get up in the morning and act like birds.

Also, flowers glorify God. They don't wonder what they have to do. Instead, at the right season, they just bloom and he is glorified.

All of creation lives like who they are. We're the only ones who feel like we have to pretend or change ourselves.

I believe God has called us to be his free people and as we learn to live free in him, his glory is revealed.

Chris Welch - 07000INTUNE said...

These answers are all brilliant so I'm glad I don't have to write anything. If there is such a thing as a 3rd level question...you just asked it!!! And if you take everyone together...that's one cool answer. Julie took the one true foundation, Joel took the 3rd level passage,Jamie took the 3rd level process with Ursula the heart position, and Aida took the Jesus in my form as me type outward description. Yup, I think we could all roll out on a Jesus type manymembered ministry with that. Who's booking the tickets?

Shawna said...

I think I've been so impacted by John Piper's book "Desiring God" that I automatically answer this question as such... we glorify God by enjoying him forever...which is a phrase put forth many times in the book. 11 years ago it was a very novel and freeing thought that I could be a christian and persue happiness at the same time!! Yikes.