Tag Archives: Glory hog

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!

God’s Glory Is A Big Deal

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The Beauty Of His Character

God deserves all glory because He alone has designed everything, and His name is on everything! It’s His name that adds value to humanity and to the rest of creation! So, when we speak about God’s glory, we define it as “the essence and beauty of His Spirit.” We’re not referring to His material or aesthetic beauty—like we typically define human beauty—but to the beauty of His character—to all that He is! John Piper defines God’s glory as “the manifest beauty of His holiness.” Holiness points to His absolute “uniqueness.” 

The Goal Of All Things

He is one-of-a-kind! He is in a totally separate class all by Himself! There is no other God like Him! “O nations of the world, recognize the Lord, recognize that the Lord is glorious and strong. Give to the Lord the glory he deserves! Bring your offering and come into his presence. Worship the Lord in all his holy splendor” (1 Chronicles 16:28-29, NLT). God’s glory is a really big deal to God, and it’s a big deal in the Holy Scriptures! The goal of all things is God’s glory! And I’m not overstating that one iota!

Creator and Creation

Let’s not forget that there is God and there is everything He created! That’s it! There is nothing else! And in the original creation—before sin—God declared that all of creation was good! Why? Because all of creation reflected God’s beauty, so it all brought Him… glory! In a similar fashion, we say that an artist’s painting is a reflection of the artist, and the artist’s work brings him a certain “glory!” God has blessed humanity with certain creative abilities, but they’re all small “c—creative” because all mankind’s creative abilities were received from the capital “C—Creator” God. So, every “artist”—who is a true disciple of Jesus—will redirect all praise received to Creator God! In part, that is one way that we bring God glory—by redirecting all praise and compliments received to God who created us with those abilities! We acknowledge that whatever talent or ability we have is on loan from God! It ultimately belongs to Him! Our greatest preoccupation must be with God’s glory because that’s our reason and purpose for existence!

Mandated To Give God Glory

Here’s an observation from the 1 Chronicles 16 text: the writer, King David, was inspired by God’s Spirit to offer this mandate regarding God’s glory. This is an imperative or a command to “declare God’s glory” (v.28). When David became king, he determined to make worship a priority again in Israel. One of his first acts was to return the Ark of the Covenant, which had been neglected under King Saul, back to Jerusalem. In the process, David preaches this great message that is included as the inspired Word of God. That means it’s authoritative—not because David said it, but because God inspired him to say it! So, “declare God’s glory,” he says! Don’t just study it and keep it to yourself. We’re commanded to declare it, and that’s a general statement that means to declare it everywhere to everyone.

The Glory Due His Name

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About New Year’s Resolutions

Why do resolutions at the start of a new year rarely work? I recently did a Google search for “New Year’s Resolutions” and came up with 18,600,000 hits in 0.54 seconds. There are more than 18 million articles, blogs, posts, sites, and news stories dedicated to the subject of New Year’s Resolutions! What does that mean? Well, I’d say, among other things, it means that people are always longing for change! They’re looking for strategies and formulas to help them eat less, exercise more, quit smoking…yada, yada, yada! Can I make an observation?

The Problem With Self-Focus

Full disclosure here—I am NOT against “New Year’s Resolutions”! I am not against “self-improvement”! But, I’ve come to believe that the reason New Year’s Resolutions and other methods for self-improvement aren’t very successful is because they’re all “self”-focused!  As a Bible believer and disciple of Jesus Christ, I agree with the doctrine of man’s fallenness. I see the depravity and brokenness in my own life. I’ve learned that I can’t trust my fallen nature, so I’m not surprised by my inability to keep promises and resolutions to myself. I need help. I need a Savior. Here’s what I’ve seen in my life and the lives of countless others through the years—when I quit focusing on myself and focus my heart, my thoughts, and my energy on Jesus Christ, change begins to happen.

What About God’s Glory?

Personal change happens when I stop being absorbed in myself and look at Jesus over and over again—meditate on Him and memorize His words. For change to take place, our greatest preoccupation must be with God and His glory. We exist for His glory. So, if we don’t live our lives for His glory, we miss our purpose, or our very reason for existence. We live a wasted life. I don’t like the sound of that, and I’m sure you don’t either. Preaching on the doctrine of “God’s glory” is difficult because it’s as deep as God’s character, which is eternal, inexhaustible, and indefinable. It’s also difficult because it’s easily misunderstood—“Why is God so concerned about His glory? He must be some kind of glory hog!” And then, it’s difficult to understand the part we play in bringing God glory, all of which means that we don’t really know how to define it adequately, do we?

A Working Definition Of Glory

Let me try to illustrate “glory” for you. While stopping at a store in Hollywood, Christian music artist Lecrae pulled a very ordinary, plain cotton T-shirt off a rack to check its price. Thinking it must be mismarked, he pulled another one only to find the same price on the tag. Incredulous, he approached the sales clerk to question the exorbitant price of $640. He was told that was the “special” sales price! When he asked what could possibly make it so special, the clerk said, “It’s the designer’s name on it that adds value to it.” Get the illustration? The reason God alone deserves all glory is because He’s the designer of everything. His name is on everything! And it’s His name that adds value to it! So, when we speak about God’s glory, we define it as “the essence and beauty of His Spirit,” or the beauty of His character.