Society today suffocates us with affirmations like “do what makes YOU happy”, “own your own truth”, “be your true self”, “love yourself first”, and even “every size is a perfect size” etc. We are pushed to put our own needs and wants above any others, and that if we think something is okay, then it must be. There is only relative truth and you can do and be whatever you want. While some of these ideas aren’t terrible at face value, they trick us into worldly thinking of going into situations seeking what we can get out them and how we can benefit. If it doesn’t “serve us”, then we can move on. But as Christians, we aren’t called to serve ourselves, make our own truths or do things just to make us happy. We are called to serve God and others FIRST, follow God’s absolute perfect and only truth, and do things that sanctify us to holiness, not happiness. This doesn’t mean we can’t be happy, in fact, when we are aligned in God’s design and plan for our life, we are the most content and joyfilled that we could possibly be. But true lasting joy comes from denying ourselves, not giving into our natural, human, selfishness.
When we give our lives to Jesus, it’s not an automatic flip where we all of a sudden are super spiritual and do everything in perfect obedience to God. I wish it were! But it is a daily choice to be a little more like Jesus every day. It is the daily choice to break bad habits and build good habits as God gently convicts us and leads us to more holiness. It is the daily choice to deny ourselves and our comfort to choose the things outside our comfort zone or outside our natural desires or to resist that temptation because we have our eyes on the cross and the prize of eternity. There are many “good things” that we might like but that do not give glory to God and it is sometimes so hard to put aside what is “good” to pursue what is “best”. And if we keep the perspective that we are here to glorify God, not to just get the most out of what the world has to offer, then we can have the courage to live for His best for us.
Another way we can live for the glory of God is by always giving and doing our best. It’s so easy to do our best when we love what we are doing in that moment, but it can be so challenging to do our best when we are tired or bored or unenthusiastic about some of the mundane tasks that are on our to-do list. Colossians 3:17 says “And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” Colossians 3:23-24 says “Whatever you do, work heartily, as for the Lord and not for men, knowing that from the Lord you will receive the inheritance as your reward. You are serving the Lord Christ.” And 1 Corinthians 10:31 says “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” These verses clearly tell us that what we do matters, and HOW we do it matters just as much. Whether you’re cleaning your house or doing a fancy work presentation or planning an exciting event, do your best as if God was coming over for dinner, or God was your work audience or God was your event guest of honor.
Something that can be even more challenging than having a good attitude about cleaning a bathroom, is being careful what we watch and listen to. More and more, seemingly harmless shows and songs are sneaking in inappropriate and ungodly values and themes that get darker by the year. There is some super explicit media out there that we might go, well we don’t watch or listen to that bad stuff, so we are fine to listen to this other stuff. But the ones that are much more subtle can also be much more dangerous because we can be listening to a song 5 times before we hear the words properly and realise what were singing about. What we listen to and watch fills our mind and influences our perspective and if we truly want to be living our lives for the glory of God, then we want the media that influences us to be uplifting, God honoring and beneficial. A good perspective to remember, is that God is always with us so if He was physically sitting on the couch next to you, would you press play on that movie? Would He be glorified by the song lyrics coming from your headphones? Knowing where to draw that line when it’s a bit of a grey area can be tricky and honestly, there are some things that I have watched or listened to that I wished I didn’t and things that I would love to watch but cross one too many boundaries. Paul has a great piece of advice about this area in 1 Corinthians 10:23 – “All things are lawful, but not all things are helpful. All things are lawful, but not all things build up.” So when you’re wondering whether it’s a “right or wrong” choice, we need to reframe our question and ask “is this a helpful choice? If this going to build me and/or others up?” If the answer is no, then that might be a sign that it is not going to glorify God. Honestly though, when I have Godly music on throughout my weeks instead of secular music, I notice a huge difference in my motivation and my mood. It's very easy to feel flat when we're belting out a break up song, but very hard to feel flat when we are belting out praise songs in the kitchen!
The hardest thing of all to wrestle with when we are talking about living life for the glory of God, is His glory through suffering. No matter if it’s a big trial or a little test of faith, suffering is painful. But Romans 8:17-18 says “and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ, provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him. For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us.” To be honest, there are so many times where I don’t understand why God not only allows suffering, but how He can link it to His glory. Romans 5:3-5 gives us a bit of a hint “Not only that, but we rejoice in our sufferings, knowing that suffering produces endurance, and endurance produces character, and character produces hope, and hope does not put us to shame, because God's love has been poured into our hearts through the Holy Spirit who has been given to us.” I know I don’t rejoice in times of suffering, they are so hard sometimes. But bringing it back to living life for the glory of God, if I want to be more like Him, then it’s usually the trials through fire that refine us. Not only that, but when God has brought me through the end of a certain tough time, He often uses it to encourage others going through something similar and that brings Him glory. When we can look back and say God was with me and God brought this together for good, and we PRAISE and thank Him for all that He has done, that brings Him glory.
There is so much that I am learning about this topic of living life for His glory, and denying our flesh and surrendering to His plan and His best for us, even when it goes against our desires, is so hard sometimes. I am by NO MEANS close to perfect at this. But when we can focus on the WHY we are choosing the hard, but right choice, we will experience such deep peace and joy knowing that we are pleasing our Father and bringing Him glory. And bringing Him glory is what we have been put on this earth to do. So take heart, and “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.” (Galatians 6:9).
