Have you ever heard someone say, "My purpose in life is to give God glory?" I've heard it too and when people say this it makes them sound very godly, religious, and theologically correct. That is...until you ask them: What does that mean? How do you give God glory? How does God want his glory to be practically manifested in your life? Most people I've talked to either haven't a clue what this means or how to practically live this out. They have just learned (like Pavlov's dogs) that they get affirmation when they use the line...so why not throw it out there around religious people? And those who have described to me what giving God glory means tell me that you do this by giving Him credit for everything good that you accomplish in your life. But what this amounts to (based on my observation) is the token finger point toward the sky (in God's direction) after you play a killer guitar riff or you get any type of compliment.
But is this the extent of what it means to give God glory? Because how I see this worked out in many people's lives is that they live their lives however they want...pursuing worldly status, fame, and fortune...and then when they achieve success they point the 'good' finger toward God saying, "I just want to give God all the glory." And I'm thinking, "Ya right...I'm sure you consciously put God by your side every step of the way." And so I ask, "Has giving God glory become nothing more that a Christian fad that has lost its Biblical meaning?" I'll let you decide. But if it has, we need to figure out what it means because it seems to be pretty important. So what does it mean to give God glory?
A good place to start would be with Jesus. How did Jesus give God glory? Is he the one that began the Godward finger pointing fad? No doubt he gave God credit for everything. But it wasn't just giving God credit that brought God glory in Jesus' life. Nope. IT WAS WHAT JESUS DID AND HOW HE LIVED HIS LIFE THAT BROUGHT GOD GLORY. Listen to what Jesus says in John 17:4, "I have brought You glory on earth by finishing the work you gave me to do." Jesus brought God glory by doing the task that God gave him to do. You can give God credit all you want but you can't give him glory if you're not living to accomplish the task that he has given you as His creation. So this begs the question, "What task has God given humans to accomplish on this earth?"
To find the answer, we need to go back to the beginning...to Genesis. Why were Adam and Eve created in the first place? Well, Genesis 1:27-28 says, "God created mankind in His own image, in the image of God He created him; male and female he created them. God blessed them and said to them, 'Be fruitful and increase in number; fill the earth and subdue it. Rule over the fish of the sea and the birds of the air and over every living creature that wove on the ground.'" Adam and Eve were created in God's image to preserve, protect, and guard God's good created order.
This idea is further emphasized in Genesis 2:15, "The Lord God took the man and put him in the Garden of Eden to work it and take care of it." Now the verb that is translated "take care of it" is best understood as meaning "protect and guard it." Why? This task of 'taking care of' is the same task that the angels were given by God to do in Genesis 3:24 (that is, the same word is used) after Adam and Eve were banished from the garden. The angels 'took care' of the way to the tree of life by 'guarding' it. And so God created Adam and Eve to preserve the good in God's world.
Adam and Eve's purpose is also made clear when it says that they were created in God's image. This idea of being made in God's image alludes to an Ancient Near East practice where a king would place a statue of himself in a conquered region to represent and remind people of his authority in that region. And so humanity was given the purpose of representing God and preserving his rule on this earth. How do we do this? By promoting God's original created design for life. In Genesis God established a design for life and he wants us to function within that design and not rebel against it!
And so Adam and Eve's role on this earth was to maintain God's good created order and to represent God to the world around them! This continues to this day. In Matthew 5:13, Christ followers are called the salt of the earth. Salt is a preservative and Christians are called to preserve God's good in this world by overcoming evil with good. This (I would suggest) is how we give God glory! But something happened in the garden that expanded humanities role and purpose on this earth. We'll get to that in due time. But for now I ask you: Is your life showing God's glory? Are you living by God's good design for life? Or is God's glory just a religious fad to you?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
No comments:
Post a Comment