Monthly Archives: March 2025

Dismissing God’s Glory

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Pride Is Like False Advertising

Have you ever checked the label on a bottle of juice? I mean, really checked it? Recently, I picked up a bottle of juice that said it was “Blueberry Pomegranate, 100% Juice, All Natural” on the front label, along with a picture of a ripe pomegranate and lots of plump, perfect blueberries. But then I read the list of ingredients: “Filtered water, pear juice concentrate, apple juice concentrate, and grape juice concentrate.” So, where are the blueberries? And where is the pomegranate, I wondered. Finally, I found them listed as the fifth and seventh ingredients on a list of nine! Then, the friendly lady in the health food aisle informed me that, by law, food ingredients are listed in descending order by weight. Did you know that? This means a product contains the greatest proportion of the first ingredient on the list, with successively smaller amounts of the ones that follow. So, according to the list on the bottle I held, it contained mostly water and other juices, with just enough blueberry and pomegranate for flavor and color. I put it back on the shelf. The pictures and clever labeling were enticing, but I would call that a form of false advertising! 

An Illustration Of Human Pride

It was disguised to look like something that it wasn’t! That seems to illustrate human pride to me. What if we use that bottle of juice to illustrate what it’s like when we’re proud of our work, our intellect, our earning power, our standing in the community, our house, our car, our neighborhood, or our kids’ accomplishments? The clever label says we’re a “self-made man” or a “self-made woman.” We’re a rising star! We’re prosperous! We’re going places! We’re a mover and a shaker! But the ingredients listed on the side don’t lie. God says: “Bring my sons from far away and my daughters from the ends of the earth—everyone called by my name and created for my glory. I have formed him; indeed, I have made him” (Isaiah 43:6-7). We were created for His glory, not our own. He formed us; He made us. As for the gifts, talents, and abilities we take credit for—the things we’re tempted to take pride in—the rest of the ingredients on the list don’t lie.

It All Comes From Him

According to the Apostle Paul, the “ingredient list” on the side panel of our lives says, “For who makes you so superior? What do you have that you didn’t receive? If, in fact, you did receive it, why do you boast as if you hadn’t received it?” (1 Corinthians 4:7). Everything we have comes from Him, and we face deadly consequences when we deny God the glory. It is not an insignificant matter when we dismiss or deny the glory due His name. Human pride is deadly! I’ve said before that human pride is our attempt to steal God’s glory, and that is why God’s Word says in Proverbs, “These six things the Lord hates, yes, seven are an abomination to Him…” And what’s number one on the list? “A proud look” (Proverbs 6:16-19). All glory has belonged to God from the beginning of creation. All glory in the world is ultimately a reflection of the glory God gave it.

Our Gifts Aren’t For Us

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Given To You By God

It’s our default setting to use all gifts, talents, and abilities for personal gain and advancement in this world! But God didn’t gift us for our own personal benefit! Your gifts, your talents, your personality and charm, and your intellect were given to you by God to manage or steward over in a way that brings Him greater glory! Are you leveraging all those things for the glory of God? Here’s what the Apostle Peter said about it: “Based on the gift each one has received, use it to serve others, as good managers of the varied grace of God. If anyone speaks, it should be as one who speaks God’s words; if anyone serves, it should be from the strength God provides, so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ in everything. To Him belong the glory and the power forever and ever.” 1 Peter 4:10-11. 

The Purpose of Your Gift

Did you notice the end of v.11? The purpose of your giftedness is, “…so that GOD MAY BE GLORIFIED through Jesus Christ IN EVERYTHING. To HIM BELONG THE GLORY…” Don’t compartmentalize your life— this is CHURCH; that’s God’s part. But, this is my WORK; that’s ABOUT ME! We can compartmentalize God right out of our life! No! God has gifted us to bring Himself glory IN EVERYTHING! In ALL of life! There is no area of your life where God does not intend to bring Himself glory! So, what motivates you? Are you motivated to live your life for God’s glory, or for your own? 

Gifts Empowered By The Spirit

God’s method is to empower our gifts by His Spirit so that He receives all the glory! This is how the exercising of your gifts, talents, and intellect brings glory to God! The only way we bring Him glory in all of life’s activities is when we exercise them under the power and control of God’s Holy Spirit! When our dependence—in the doing and the living of life—is not in ourselves or our giftedness, but on God’s Spirit! If you’re ‘speaking’ (v.11) or ‘serving’— “…it should be from the strength that God provides…” Don’t miss this crucial point in exercising your gifts in a way that brings God glory! You cannot depend on your giftedness when you speak or when you serve—or God is not glorified!

When We Fail To Bring Him Glory

You can be a gifted speaker, even speak ‘on God’s behalf,’ but if it’s not ‘…from the words God provides…,’ then God is neither blessed nor glorified by them! They are words— even ‘good words’— but they are spoken in the power of the flesh! You can serve— teach Sunday School, sing or play on the Worship Team, help kids learn Scripture in AWANA— but if your service is not done by ‘…the strength that God provides…,’ then God is neither blessed nor glorified by your service! They are deeds—even ‘good deeds’—but they are done in the flesh! I still believe that the Holy Spirit remains the greatest untapped power of the Church! It’s a power untapped because we so rarely lean on God’s Holy Spirit! We lean on our gifts more than we do the Creator and the Giver of those gifts! This has to change, Church!
 

How Do We Bring God Glory?

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The Gift Each One Has

We often talk about living a life that glorifies God, but what does that look like? How do we flesh that out? According to the Apostle Peter, we bring glory to God by yielding to His Spirit’s work to transform us into Christ’s likeness. He says: “Based on the gift each one has received, use it to serve others as good stewards of God’s varied grace. If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks God’s words; if anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that God may be glorified through Jesus Christ in everything. To Him belong the glory and the power forever and ever.” (1 Peter 4:10-11)

3 Points About God’s Glory

Peter seems to make three points about bringing God glory. First, God’s purpose for “gifting” us is to bring glory to Himself. Second, our motive, as we use our gifts, should be to glorify God with them. Finally, God’s method is to empower our gifts by His Spirit, so He gets the ultimate glory as they are being used. It’s ultimately God’s purpose to bring glory to Himself as we use the gifts He has given us! While the immediate interpretation of the “gifts” here is related to the “gifts of the Spirit,” in the broader context, it could be argued that Peter means for us to include our talents, abilities, and anything else that makes us uniquely “us.” God has given you everything that makes you you—all your gifts, talents, abilities, personality, outward appearance, etc. And, what Peter seems to be saying is that He’s given you all that for Him! For His Glory!

The Varied Grace of God

None of these things that are unique to us as individuals are to be used selfishly, nor do we have any reason to be arrogant or prideful about any of it, since it’s all been given to us by our gracious God! Everyone has been gifted by God— some more, some less— “according to the varied grace of God.” Then he offers two examples—of speaking and serving—and how these gifts are to be used only in such a way “that God may be glorified… to Him belong the glory and the power” (v. 11). God has purposely and intentionally given us all the “stuff” that makes us who we are so that we would bring Him glory as we use them, not for our own glory! Glory belongs to God alone, Peter says!

We Are Tools In God’s Hands

I’m not much of a handyman, but I have a great deal of appreciation for those men and women who are! I’ve found that most handy people have specialized tools for certain repairs. There’s a specific tool for everything! That’s how God purposes to use us. He’s made us all different with our unique gifts, personalities, and talents. We’re each a special tool in God’s tool chest, and He intends to use us in each specific instance to bring Himself greater glory. But God is only glorified when we use our gifts out of a motivation to see Him glorified— “use it,” Peter says, “as good managers of the varied grace of God” (v. 10). There’s an expectation of intentionality. Don’t just float through life, living off all the good gifts God has blessed you with. Manage well, so as to bring God glory in everything you do!

We’re Gifted For His Glory

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Why Does God Seek Glory?

I find that the subject of “God’s Glory” tends to provoke more questions than it does answers. How do we bring glory to God? And, why does God seek glory? Why is it okay for God to bring glory to Himself, but it’s condemned as pride if we seek personal glory? The wrong answers to those questions could prove deadly! The life and death of a king named Herod Agrippa provide a shocking illustration for us. One day, as he was dressed in his royal robes and seated on his throne, he began to speak; and, “The assembled people began to shout, ‘It’s the voice of a god and not of a man!’ At once an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give the glory to God, and he became infected with worms and died.”

He Did Not Give God The Glory

Herod Agrippa died, it says, “…because he did not give God the glory…” He did not redirect the praise to God, and it cost him his life!  God hates pride because it’s man’s attempt to steal glory from Him! Pride credits self for our accomplishments and discredits God, who actually gave us everything we have, including our gifts and talents! Perhaps, like me, you were required to read Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales in school, or at least parts of it! One story included a vain rooster named Chanticleer, who prided himself on all his accomplishments. He was most proud of the fact that his crowing caused the sun to rise each morning—every morning he crowed, and every morning the sun rose, making him quite proud!

What Have You Been Crowing About?

One morning, however, Chanticleer overslept, and when he awoke, he was shocked to find that the sun was already up, and it happened without any help from him! When he realized that he could no longer take credit for the rising of the sun, he declared, ‘If by my crowing I cannot bring in the dawn, then by my crowing I can celebrate its coming.’ This begs the question—’What accomplishments in your life have you been crowing about?’ The moral of Chanticleer’s story is that his pride-filled ‘crowing’ wasn’t accomplishing what he thought it was. He had deceived himself! But there’s a second moral to the story—when faced with the truth, he humbled himself & celebrated the sunrise though he had nothing to do with it.

We Take Too Much Credit

There’s much we can learn from Chanticleer’s story, isn’t there? We’re tempted to take way too much credit or glory for our own accomplishments, aren’t we? But it’s God who created us! It’s God who’s given us our intellect, our talents, and our gifts! It’s God who gives us life and the ability to make decisions! It’s God who regenerates us and raises us up from our spiritual death and gives us life in Christ. We can share in the process! But we’d better not crow about it like we’ve done the work! God brings glory to Himself for our spiritual growth—or sanctification—because He’s the One who does it! “…work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. For it is God who is working in you, enabling you both to desire and to work out His good purpose” (Philippians 2:12). God does the work in us! He enables us! Give Him the glory for it!