I’ve been thinking about the phrase, ‘giving God the glory’. What does this mean? How is this displayed? Do we only give lip service to this? Or, is it a conscious understanding that we do give the glory to God – at the moment?
Granted each of us has to answer these questions for ourselves, but is there some kind of universal understanding of what this is/means? Part of it can be summed up in our taking credit for (whatever). Do we consciously know and act on the fact that we are in partnership with the Lord in our ‘works’? Are we too people conscious to want their praise? Never forget that the partnership is based on the Lord being the senior partner and we are the junior partner. HOWEVER, the unmitigated joy is that we are part of this process – the Lord chooses to work through His creation.
Look at the following verses:
John 15:16 “You didn’t choose me, remember; I chose you, and put you in the world to bear fruit, fruit that won’t spoil.”
James 2:18b “…show me your [alleged] faith without the works [if you can], and I will show you my faith by my works [that is, by what I do].”
Ephesians 2:10 “For we are His workmanship [His own master work, a work of art], created in Christ Jesus [reborn from above—spiritually transformed, renewed, ready to be used] for good works, which God prepared [for us] beforehand [taking paths which He set], so that we would walk in them [living the good life which He prearranged and made ready for us].”
Appreciate what’s being said. God chose to create man in HIS image (Genesis 1:26). But He created man with a purpose, a plan (Jeremiah 29:11) – first: it was He who created us, second: He chose us, third: His plan was for us to have works that remain. So how is it that we take the glory? There are many scriptures that talk about if we seek our glory here from men then we miss what the Lord’s reward is.
Actually, expressing to others that the honor belongs to the Lord, giving God the glory here, now with those who have seen or experienced what took place should bring us great joy because once again we have the opportunity to witness to who God is and what and how He expresses Himself, especially that He works through us. Giving the honor, the glory to the One who deserves it is only right. It’s our privilege to be able to do this.
