To Glorify God

You hear it said often, don’t you. You need to glorify God! But what does it mean exactly? How can someone glorify God?

Perhaps one of the best pictures of glorifying God in the Bible is found in Luke 9:9. Herod says, “And Herod said, John have I beheaded: but who is this, of whom I hear such things? And he desired to see him”

The context around this verse is clear. Jesus sends out the twelve on their first evangelistic trip. They go out to preach about the kingdom, but they do so in a way that brings glory to Christ. I say this because as people watch and listen to the twelve, they can’t help but wonder about who Jesus is. In other words, they think to themselves that these twelve men couldn’t possibly believe these things that they were declaring, that they couldn’t do the things they were doing unless God had enabled them to do so.

Bringing glory to God with our lives means that we are doing supernatural things that can only be attributed to Him. And I’m not talking about miraculous sign gifts, those have ceased; I’m talking about supernatural things that can only happen in the minds and hearts of regenerated Holy Spirit-filled believers.

There are three areas I want to highlight in particular in which we can glorify God: In our beliefs, in our decisions, and in our response to trials.

We glorify God by what we believe.

Nothing is more supernatural than believing the Gospel. To be able to say “I am a sinner that deserves to spend eternity in hell, and there is nothing I can do to save myself” is an absolute miracle. By simply believing this truth, we give glory to God. We didn’t believe this truth because we were smarter than others, it was simply because of the grace of God. We also give glory to Christ by believing that He is truly God and truly man. That He lived a perfect life, died on the cross, and rose from the dead. Many might admit that they have sin in their lives, but they will deny the fact that their sin separates them from God and makes them deserve Hell. False religions teach some form of works-based righteousness where the sinner merits entry into heaven one way or another. The Gospel is the only truth that gives God full glory. So that one day each sinner standing in Heaven will be there based solely on the grace of God through faith in Christ alone.

We glorify God in our decision-making.

Whether it is by choosing to say no to sin, or to store up for ourselves treasures in Heaven rather than on earth, believers are able to glorify God in their decision making. My mind goes to Elizabeth Elliott, who, despite great peril and the fact that her husband had been recently murdered by the Houaroani people in Eastern Ecuador, decided to go and still reach the murderers of her husband with the Gospel. It would be tough for someone to look to Elizabeth Elliot as though she were some incredible angel. Instead, we believers know that it is God who softened her heart and miraculously caused her to love those who took the love of her life away. When we decide to be counter-cultural, to go against the flow of the world, that is when we truly are glorifying God, because it is unnatural to say no to sin, and it is unnatural to live with our eyes set on eternity.

We glorify God in our response to trials.

There are few things more miraculous than Paul’s words in Philippians 1:18, where he says, “What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice.”

To be in prison and to be maligned by other believers is already difficult, but to be there with the possibility of facing Nero at some point is unbearable for a human to withstand. Most humans would be depressed, even suicidal. And yet, Paul is rejoicing. He is the opposite of what a human being typically is. You probably know some Christians who experienced serious physical pain, spent many days in the hospital, and couldn’t stop talking about all the evangelistic opportunities that their trial enabled them to have. I can think of over a dozen people in the past few years who told me this. When we see our trials in light of eternity, we are able to truly glorify God with our lives.

Glorifying God is not something you can drum up on the fly. Glorifying God is living by the Spirit. Only those who are saturated in the Word of God and who are enabled by the Holy Spirit to live with eternity in view are able to do so. You will glorify God when those around you will hear your beliefs, watch your decisions, and observe your responses to trials, and will be prompted to worship God for His power to enable you to live in a supernatural way.

Remember, our ability to glorify God will reach its apex when we reach Heaven. Not only because we will be perfect, but because the angels, upon seeing us reach heaven, will remember how spiritually bankrupt we were, and will know that it is only by the grace of God that we will have gotten to Heaven (1 Peter 1:12 – It was revealed to them that they were serving not themselves but you, in the things that have now been announced to you through those who preached the good news to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven, things into which angels long to look.). This will fuel their worship of God for eternity (Ephesians 2:7 – so that in the coming ages he might show the immeasurable riches of his grace in kindness toward us in Christ Jesus.).

Do you long to give glory to God with your life? Then study God’s Word so that you can know God better and love Him more. And when temptation lurks and trials come, you will live supernaturally, and those around you will be encouraged and propelled to worship God more.

To repeat, the three ways we glorify God: In our beliefs, in our decisions, and in our response to trials. What we’ve learned here will act as a prelude to the following verses.

First, from Matthew’s gospel, when Jesus (as a motivational speaker) instructs his disciples how and why they can and should glorify God:

“‘You are the light of the world. A city set on a hill cannot be hidden. 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 5:14-16).

Lesson: When you glorify God through good works, your light will shine, reflecting the previously mentioned verse from Paul: “Christ in you the hope of glory.”

Then in Matthew’s “grand finale,” Jesus famously teaches how we are to glorify God in what is known as “The Great Commission”:

“‘All authority in heaven and on earth has been given to me. Go therefore and make disciples of all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit, teaching them to observe all that I have commanded you. And behold, I am with you always, to the end of the age’” (Matthew 28:18-20).

Moving to John’s gospel, not long before Jesus’s arrest and subsequent death on the cross, Jesus prayed to the Father about how He glorified God in the flesh with authority “over all flesh.” Jesus’s prayer is breathtakingly brilliant and called “The High Priestly Prayer”:

“‘Father, the hour has come; glorify your Son that the Son may glorify you, since you have given him authority over all flesh, to give eternal life to all whom you have given him. And this is eternal life, that they know you the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom you have sent. I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do. And now, Father, glorify me in your own presence with the glory that I had with you before the world existed’” (John 17:1-5).

Here we learn that the glory of God and Jesus were intertwined “before the world existed.” So then, by His death, Jesus will again glorify God, and those who believe in Him will have eternal life. Moreover, Jesus confirms a theological truth previously mentioned in John’s gospel: “He was with God in the beginning.”

Altogether the three previous gospel verses provide foundational truths echoed in numerous New Testament passages about how to glorify God. For example, what Jesus did for you on the cross, is justified with some advice for healthy living:

“Or do you not know that your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit within you, whom you have from God? You are not your own, for you were bought with a price. So glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19-20). And:

“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Scripture has too many glorious Godly verses, and I don’t have enough space. However, just enough to conclude with a passage that speaks with intense passion and visionary truth sent from God to the hand of John, who, while in exile, wrote Revelation from a cave in Patmos, Greece:

“In a loud voice they were saying: ‘Worthy is the Lamb, who was slain, to receive power and wealth and wisdom and strength and honor and glory and praise!’ Then I heard every creature in heaven and on earth and under the earth and on the sea, and all that is in them, saying: ‘To him who sits on the throne and to the Lamb be praise and honor and glory and power, for ever and ever!’” (Revelation 5:12-13).

SO HOW DOES THIS AFFECT YOUR DAILY LIFE?

We glorify God by what we believe.

Nothing is more supernatural than believing the Gospel. To be able to say “I am a sinner that deserves to spend eternity in hell, and there is nothing I can do to save myself” is an absolute miracle. The Gospel is the only truth that gives God full glory. So that one day each sinner standing in Heaven will be there based solely on the grace of God through faith in Christ alone.

We glorify God in our decision-making.

Whether it is by choosing to say no to sin, or to store up for ourselves treasures in Heaven rather than on earth, believers are able to glorify God in their decision making. When we decide to be counter-cultural, to go against the flow of the world, that is when we truly are glorifying God, because it is unnatural to say no to sin, and it is unnatural to live with our eyes set on eternity.

We glorify God in our response to trials.

There are few things more miraculous than Paul’s words in Philippians 1:18, where he says, “What then? Only that in every way, whether in pretense or in truth, Christ is proclaimed; and in this I rejoice.”

If we glorify God in what we believe, in our decision making, and in our response to trials, then we glorify God in the way He wants us to. That is how our daily lives should be affected.

Thank you for spending your precious time to read this article.

It is written in Psalm 5:11:

“But let all who take refuge in you rejoice;

let them ever sing for joy. Spread your protection over them,

so that those who love your name may exult in you.”

That is my wish for you.

Jack Sotallaro

Continuity planning, civilian and military