For His Glory

I Corinthians 10:31

Paraphrasing The Message Bible " ... do everything heartily and freely to God's glory ... "

In my study at SCF we read an account of George Mueller who learned how to feast on God's WORD. Too often we might read a passage of Scripture and not let us nourish us from within. It would be like fixing a meal and not eating it. The Israelites were told to go out daily and pick up their portion. Likewise we should be going to the WORD and gathering our daily manna. Below is an excerpt and paraphrase of what George Mueller learned.

We can look to the WORD for whatever we need: comfort, encouragment, warning, reproving, instruction, etc. Whatever you need for your day, it is there! Reading for the sake of obtaining food for your own soul, turning all, as you go on, into prayer for yourself or others, as the Word may lead to it in confession, thanksgiving, intercession, or supplication. Looking for the blessing in each verse, fellowshipping with God as Father, and Friend (vile though I am, and unworthy of it) about the things that He has brought before me in His precious Word. How different when the soul is refreshed and made happy early in the morning, from what the soul is when, without spiritual preparation, the service, the trials and the temptations of the day come upon one! ~ George Mueller

With that said, I opened my Bible to I Corinthians 10:31 this morning, a simple often quoted verse:

31 So then, whether you eat or drink,

or whatever you may do, do all for the honor and glory of God.

The word that stuck out at me was "glory" doxa. We might read the last 1/2 of the verse this way:

" ... do all for the opinion of God ..."

" ... do all for the judgement of God ..."

" ... do all as a thing belonging to God ..."

Yes, certainly there is also communicated in this verse the importance of praising Him verbally or through our actions (eating, drinking, whatever we do), but on a practical level we do this by recognizing His ownership of all things.

When I am with my children, I recognize them as God's creation, that they are on loan to me and I to treat them as His children ~ this changes perhaps my response from an earthly Bill Cosby response, "I brought you into this world I can take you out" type of parenting to a more steward-like parenting. "You belong to God!"

I can look at my husband and know that he was made in God's image and I can look for God's character in my husband and respect him and love him more and more each day.

I can eat my food knowing that eat bite should be bringing me to a place of thanksgiving and is a shadow of the substance of Christ.

... what you eat or drink ... are a shadow of things to come,

but the substance is of Christ ... Col 2:16-17

So every step, everything I do today, should be for the ultimate goal of glorifying God, bringing Him praise ~ not necessarily verbally, although that is important, but in recognizing His ownership, that He is the substance of all things.

When a child does something right, like the other day when I looked out my kitchen window to catch one of these moments ... the puppy had gone up to the baby and taken her dolly away from her and was ratting it ... the baby went over to her sissy and in her limited words simply said "sissy" and pointed to the dog. Her big sister went right over and promptly got the dolly away from the puppy and gave it back to her little baby sister. It warmed my heart! Of course in the next instance big sister was taking a different toy from little sister and teasing her with it, but hey, for that one moment I was super proud and ran to tell my husband, he too was warmed by the story.

I think this is kind of what it means to bring God glory in simple terms - to warm His heart, to make Him proud - hey that is my daughter there! To do the right thing in the right way. To help the weaker vessels. To always be pointing back to God and thinking about Him always. To go to Him with our limited words and rely on Him to help us! To find His image in His creations and in the people around us. To know that everything belongs to Him and to honor His ownership.

As children if we don't think our parents are watching we might make the wrong choice thinking we can "get away with it". But God is always watching, just like I was from the kitchen window last week with the dolly incident. They didn't know I was watching them and they did the right thing!

May we make God proud today as we do everything for His glory - His opinion, His judgment, His view, as a thing or all things belonging to Him and Him alone.

LORD, how often I forget this concept, forget you see everything, forget to treat others to your glory. LORD whatever I do today, may it bring you glory and honor. May I live my life for YOUR OPINION, that is the only one that matters. Whether I eat or drink may my heart be directed to you, my Bread of Heaven, the one who quenches my thirst, my Living Water! All to your glory!!

In your Name, My Everything

Amen & Amen