Glorifying God in Everything We Do

I've walked through the doors to Focus on the Family many times in the last twenty-plus years. Every time, I've walked by this sign, but never noticed it. During my last visit, the plaque caught my eye and I stepped closer.

"May God always be glorified in this place."

I read that beautiful prayer of dedication and thought how appropriate it would be for our own lives. Our homes. Our businesses.

I know I haven't always glorified God in my life, my home, my work. I still don't succeed all the time... but it's my goal.

What, then, does it mean to glorify God? 

Jesus said, "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven." (Matthew 5:16)

The word translated as "glorify" conveys the idea of praising, magnifying, celebrating. According to Blue Letter Bible, it is sometimes used to indicate causing "the dignity and worth... to become manifest and acknowledged."

When we glorify God, then, we not only praise and celebrate Him with our words. Our actions (and attitudes) point others to Him and demonstrate His dignity and value, as well.

As we consider an action, we should ask, "Do this make God look as good as He is or not?" If not, we must think twice before proceeding.

As we indulge in attitudes and conversation, we should ask, "Does this make God looks as great and mighty as He is or not?" Proceed with caution if not.

Today, let's use the beautiful words on that plaque as our own prayer. "May God always be glorified in me. In my words. My thoughts. My actions."

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In case you missed yesterday's post, here's the link: What to Do When Criminals Steal the Air Conditioner Out of Your Window

Update on Sam's Kids Boot Project: $4425 raised so far. That's 368 pairs of boots! Still a long way to go, but we've made an excellent start. In case you still want to donate, here's the link: www.globaloutreach.org/sams-kids
You can also mail a check or money order to: (Be sure to put Acct # 4852 in the subject line)

Sam's Kids

c/o Global Outreach 

PO Box 1

Tupelo MS 38802 

Thanks for your help!

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#GlorifyGod #Christian

Living to Worship

I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. Romans 12:1 (ESV)

Yesterday I was reminded again that true worship is not a collection of songs or simply giving praise with our lips. These are good things but by themselves they don’t amount to much and can even be offensive to God if we are not backing them up by how we live our lives each day. 

Jesus quoted this scripture to the religious folks of His day:

"'This people honors me with their lips, but their heart is far from me; in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrines the commandments of men.’” 

Matthew 15:8-9

In other words worship songs, Bible study, Sunday School lessons and sermons without a connected relationship with God are meaningless. It’s simply playing church by finding the best way to “entertain” those in attendance. Serving God is so much more than a song or a sermon.

When we look at Romans 12:1 we see the word “therefore” at the beginning of the verse before the directive. If you have spent any time at all under a good Bible teacher you have been taught you need to know what the “therefore” is there for. We look at the verses preceding it and in this case the last verse of chapter 11 gives us a great reason for living out a life of worship.

For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever. Amen.

Romans 11:36 (ESV)

Very simply put, we were created from Him, through Him and to Him. We are His. 

We were made to glorify Him. 

Ours should be a life of continual gratitude if for no other reason than the fact that we owe our very existence to Him. If He never did another thing for us that would be enough to shout, but praise God He gave us so much more through Jesus! 

May our worship be more than the words of a song this week.

Psalm 34:1
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The picture, above, is of the Coliseum in Rome, where believers literally presented their bodies as living sacrifices, all for the entertainment of the masses.
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Jon Ginn, worship leader at Hope Church in Tupelo, MS, is our guest blogger today. He's blogged for us before. In case you missed it, here's the link: Golden, Medicinal Words

Mary Evans Ervin wrote the story of her all to missions for our guest blog yesterday. Here's the link: Just a Regular Person
#worship #disciple #JonGinn

Parable of the Fig Tree: Why Does It Use Up Ground?

“And He began telling this parable: "A man had a fig tree which had been planted in his vineyard; and he came looking for fruit on it and did not find any. And he said to the vineyard-keeper, 'Behold, for three years I have come looking for fruit on this fig tree without finding any. Cut it down! Why does it even use up the ground?' And he answered and said to him, 'Let it alone, sir, for this year too, until I dig around it and put in fertilizer; and if it bears fruit next year, fine; but if not, cut it down.'"”         Luke 13:6-9 NASB

This is the sixth day in our "fig tree" series, although I've written about fig trees before because mine has been such a problem over the years. If you're just joining us, here are the links to the previous posts in the series: The Fig Tree With No Fruit, Living Like a Barren Fig Tree, Cut It Down, Removing the Cancer of Hidden Sin, and The Cost of Hidden Sin, as well as links to other "fig tree" posts: The Come Back Tree, The Lesson of the Fig Tree (One of my fav's), and My Daily Fig. (They'll open in a new tab)

Today, we are considering the landowner's words, "Why does it even use up the ground?" We might ask the same question by saying, "What is its purpose?" It's a question that we do well to answer for our own lives. 

What is my purpose in life?

There are many potential "purposes" in life, some of which are noble and endearing. We can invest our lives in good deeds, humanitarian causes, obtaining vast knowledge or expertise in our chosen field, raising "successful" children, or making large sums of money. 

Where am I investing my life? 

What purpose am I seeking to fulfill? Is it THE purpose for which I was created? 

The purpose of a fig tree is straight forward. The fig tree exists to bear figs. We, too, have a straight forward purpose for which we were created. We are to glorify God in all we do. 

You may ask, "How do we glorify God?" One of the best ways is to obey God's will. There's a tendency to view God's will as a mysterious secret that must be uncovered, but God has told us His will quite clearly in Scripture. There may be additional specifics He requires of us, but if we strive toward what He's given us, we will have made a good start.

To begin, we are to love God with all our heart, soul, mind, and strength, and love our neighbor as ourselves. Our thoughts, words, and actions must be done with the motivation of love. 

Paul's words to the Thessalonians give further insight into the will of God.

“For this is the will of God, your sanctification; that is, that you abstain from sexual immorality... and that no man transgress and defraud his brother ... For God has not called us for the purpose of impurity, but in sanctification.

Now as to the love of the brethren, you have no need for anyone to write to you, for you yourselves are taught by God to love one another... But we urge you, brethren, to excel still more, and to make it your ambition to lead a quiet life and attend to your own business and work with your hands, just as we commanded you, so that you will behave properly toward outsiders and not be in any need.” 1 Thessalonians 4:3-7, 9-12 NASB

"In everything give thanks, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you." 1 Thes. 5: 18 

Sanctification. Purity. Love. Excellence. Thanksgiving. 

We make a good start when we understand our purpose, but we begin to fulfill that purpose by the way we choose to live. We begin to be sanctified by choosing purity. Choosing love. Choosing excellence. Choosing thanks.

"Why does it even use up the ground?" If the question were asked of our lives, what would be the answer? Our lifestyle choices demonstrate our purpose in life. Let's live so that we bring honor and glory to God.

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Our Father, forgive us of our selfishness, pride, greed, lust. Draw us to Your purposes for our lives. Help us to live with love in a way that bring honor and glory to You, and You alone. In Jesus' name, Amen.

#JesusChrist #disciple #purposeinlife #glorifyGod #Bible

Teach us to Pray, part 44: Glorifying God

"Pray, then, in this way: 'Our Father who is in heaven, Hallowed be Your name. 'Your kingdom come. Your will be done, On earth as it is in heaven. 'Give us this day our daily bread. 'And forgive us our debts, as we also have forgiven our debtors. 'And do not lead us into temptation, but deliver us from evil. [ For Yours is the kingdom and the power and the glory forever. Amen.' ] (Matthew 6:9-13 NASB

Last night at Wednesday night Prayer Meeting, our interim pastor, Bobby Douglas, talked about glorifying God. He gave the illustration of a sunrise. Before we see the sun, he explained, we see the golden glow that lets us know the sun is coming. If we were seeing the sun for the first time, we might say, "I thought it would be something like that from the glow that came before it." When we glorify God, we live in such a way that people get a glimpse of what God is like by watching us. 

Pastor Douglas is absolutely correct. God did not call us to convict people of their sin, nor did He call us to be "fruit inspectors" (as I have heard numerous people claim). Our job is to be salt and light, to love, to be unified, to obey. Conviction of sin is God's job. Judging sin is God's job. We are to live in such a way that we create a lovely glow that causes people to want to see more. 

When Jesus walked this earth, he spent time with people who did not live the way the "church people" lived. He ate with them, attended parties with them, loved them. He sat down at the well and talked to the most notorious woman in town. Do you remember what happened when Jesus hung out with sinners? Mary Magadalene showed us how to love to the extreme. Matthew documented the life of Christ and brought his friends to Jesus. Zaccheus showed us the generosity that springs from love and a life that has been redeemed. These "sinners" became the very ones that showed "the church" what loving God was supposed to look like. They became the golden glow that gave a glimpse of the Son.

This is what our lives are supposed to do, as well. We are to be so cleansed by the blood of Christ, so transformed by His Spirit, that we become that same golden glow that gives a glimpse of our Lord. Matthew explained it perfectly.

Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven. (Matthew 5:16 NASB)

In the Leanna paraphrase, "Live in such a way that your life is a light that shows everyone a picture of God and makes the most notorious sinner want to love Him,too." That's what someone did for me, and it made all the difference. 

Be the light that gives the world a glimpse of Jesus and His love.

The "Good News" Mail

Most of the time, if it looks like junk mail, I toss it without looking at it. This afternoon, I received a piece of mail that looked a lot like junk mail, but I wasn't sure, so I opened it. This proclamation caught my eye:

It was scam mail, but we all had a good laugh when I said, "Oh, it's good news! I've been accepted!" What kind of accepted wasn't quite clear. "I can do something with this!" I laughed. Indeed, I've been thinking ever since about being accepted. 

I've been the new girl in school who didn't quite fit in. Being accepted, when it finally came, was a wonderful thing, but I still remember how not being accepted feels. Relationships and daily interactions are full of opportunities for us to accept or reject others. I'd like to think I'm always accepting of those who are different from me, but I'd just be fooling myself. Maybe you have a little trouble with that, too. 

In the spirit of "faith lived out loud", I did a search to see what the Bible says about "accepted". I found lots of verses, but one really hit home. "Therefore, accept one another, just as Christ also accepted us to the glory of God." (Romans 15:7 NASB) That verse just stepped all over my toes!  Christ glorified God when He accepted us (in all our sinful badness) and we are to do the same for others. I had never considered that accepting those who are different, just like Christ accepted me, would glorify God, but it does.  We make God look good when we are kind and open-hearted to people who are different from us, whether because of skin color, socioeconomic class, or lifestyle choices.  We make Him look bad when we are not. 

Put that way, this whole accepting/rejecting business looks a little different, doesn't it? Who wants to make God look bad? Certainly not me. I'm pretty sure He's not happy with that!  It's a lot to consider, but I don't see any way around this fact: Jesus Christ died for while I was still a sinner, He accepted me at my worst, and He expects me to do the same for others. 

The next time we meet someone who is "different" let's remember "Good news! You've been accepted!" And so have they!