“So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”  The Apostle Paul in First Corinthians 10:31.

After wrestling with creation in the first part of Chapter 5 and taking on the world of science, Matt Chandler is ready to give God the glory He deserves. 

For years I have heard this expression uttered from the pulpit and expressed by Christians in conversation.  Usually it is expressed in an exclamatory way: “Give Him the Glory!”  

I love those words but what do they really mean?  Sometimes I don’t think Christians know and I really doubt that unbelievers have a clue.  Why does Chandler follow up a discussion of creation with a discussion of “The primacy of God’s Glory?”  Because as believers, we forget God created it all.

But why did God create the universe?  Wow, that’s a tough question.  Chandler feels that it was done to so we can marvel at His creation and worship Him.  “God created everything, and what He created was good…that we might be driven to worship Him” [102].  “The goodness of creation is designed not to declare itself but to act as a signpost pointing heavenward” [103].

God did not create the world and its inhabitants because He had to.  God was not lonely and felt a need for a man and a woman to keep Him company.  Loneliness is a human concept.

Let’s look at another human trait.  We have this innate desire to look at something beyond ourselves and desire it, love it and work hard to consume it.  The main point here is what are we looking at?  Is it a sports star, a celebrity, a uber rich corporation owner?  Is it a large home, a fancy expensive sports car or a luxury vacation flyer? 

Let me get personal.  God has created the two acres that I own [legally own (I have a deed)].  Those two acres occupy a lot of my time as I mow, landscape, work to make the outside of my home look as nice as I can make it.  I forget that they are really not my two acres.  They belong to God.  I just hold them for a few years and work on them because I want to be a good steward of God’s gift.  What will happen to those two acres eventually?  They will be passed on to someone else who hopefully will be a good steward of the acres.  What is happening to my feelings about the two acres now?   Sometimes I forget who really owns them and I devote too much time and energy to maintaining them because I think they are mine and they reflect on me.    Sometimes they become my God.  I know the next words I write will be a major “turn-off” to some but sometimes my acres become my idol.

Chandler references Tim Keller [the pastor and author] who says an idol is anything you look at and say if “I have that, my life has meaning now.  I have value because of this, and I feel significant and secure.”

In essence we worship acres, cars, other people etc. but in the hustle and bustle of life, we forget to worship God, the creator of it all.  Why did God create the universe and all that is in it?  So we would give Him our attention and worship Him as our God.  When God created the world He displayed His worth, His beauty and His power.  He intended forus to worship him.

When I focus on my “things” and forget where they have come from, I am doing what Chandler calls “misdirected” worship.  I am denying God the glory that He deserves or the worship which I should give Him. We focus on consuming things that we think we need.  We want to feel important or look significant to others in the world. 

Chandler makes all this even more personal by referring to our food.  Most of us do not have to worry about the next meal.  I know in my home we never lack for food.  Our main anxiety is what do I want to make with my food?  Our what are my taste buds trying to communicate to me?  For people like us, we can eat three meals a day, when many in the rest of the world don’t have that luxury.  So what do we do?  We thoughtlessly consume our food with little consideration about where it came from and how easy it was for us to buy.  Chandler writes, we need to quit using the little prayer “Thank you God; bless this food” and start really “dialing in” and saying “Thank you God, that you provide this, that you  provide this in a way that requires very little effort or strain on my part, and that you could take it away any second but haven’t.” 

That is gratitude, that is honoring God with a humble heart, that is acknowledging God’s greatness in providing for us.

So what is “giving God the glory?”  It is expressing the vital role God plays in all our lives all the time.  It is thinking Him for his care for us.  It is living a life that reflects positively on Him [not taking credit for ourselves] but giving God to glory when we do something right.  It is worship of a God who created us for worship and expects us to worship Him.  It means putting ourselves aside and putting God first in our lives, thanking Him for creation. 

I had a pastor who exemplified this idea.  She lost her mother a few years ago and instead of asking another pastor to preach her mother’s funeral, she did it and she did it beautifully.  As I sat in the pew, I listened to her words and watched her behavior and was amazed at her composure.  This was a difficult time for her.  She was very close to her Mom and now she was gone to be with God.  My pastor was grieving but she honored her Mother that day with the most precious funeral I have ever heard a pastor preach. 

Afterward I had a private minute with her as we were headed to our cars in the parking lot and I asked her “How did you do that?”

She said four words which summarize what this post is all about.

“It was not me.”