REFLECTIONS

Glorify God

“We will glorify God,” are the opening words to a company’s mission statement. The company owners feel the business is a blessing to them and are quick to give God the credit. But the acknowledgement of God’s grace is not really enough to them. God blessed the business and its owners for a purpose; and they committed the business to live into that purpose. Giving thanks for God’s blessing and grace simply does not give him glory enough. A similar sense once entered into thoughts about my own life.

“Why am I here?” I pensively asked myself one day. Surely I felt God’s blessings on me and I gave thanks to him for them all. But I wondered why God put me here on this earth. God has a purpose for all he does, and I concluded that in the course of it all, he must have a purpose for me. If I live into that purpose, my life will glorify God more than my praise alone ever could. Living out the purpose validates the spoken words. The Epistle of James says it this way, “But be doers of the word, and not hearers only.”

When God sent his Son into the world, there was a purpose to serve. Jesus served it by both word and deed. “I am the bread of life,” he said, and he fed 5,000 men with only five small barley loaves and two small fish. “I am the resurrection and the life,” he said, and he raised Lazarus from the grave. He said, “I am the good shepherd,” and he nurtured his disciples for three years.

As Jesus prepared for that agonizing final segment of his time on this earth, he prayed, “Father the time has come. Glorify your Son that your Son may glorify you” And God glorified his Son, “For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.

God sent Jesus came into the world for a purpose. For three years his public presence transformed lives. He taught, healed, and forgave. His examples set the patterns for others to follow. But Jesus had an additional purpose to serve, one so painful that he prayed, “Father, if you are willing, take this cup from me; yet not my will, but yours be done.” Then, in obedience to God’s purpose for his life, Jesus endured indignant punishment and suffered an excruciating death, then conquered death that those who believed in him have everlasting life.

Jesus is the good shepherd. “The good shepherd lays down his life for his sheep,” he told us. Then he died on the cross for you and me just as his Father had asked.

And he glorified God just as he promised.

You are the light of the world,

Richard +

www.reflectingthesavior.org

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