Pathways Press.com

So much of today’s culture is focused on how we can best please ourselves to get the most out of life.  There are countless self-help books and articles about what we need to do to be happy, what we need to do to be strong, how to improve our minds and bodies, how to make more money, how to gain more control of our lives and how to be successful.  The list of ways to serve ourselves goes on and on.  Yet the Bible reminds us that we need to live our lives for God’s glory, not our own.  We need to focus our lives on God first because our true happiness depends on consciously trying to serve the purpose for which we were created – to glorify God and enjoy him.  All other purposes we pursue are shallow and fail to fulfill both our purpose and our ultimate happiness.

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Have you ever come on anything quite like this extravagant generosity of God, this deep, deep wisdom? It’s way over our heads. We’ll never figure it out.

Is there anyone around who can explain God?
Anyone smart enough to tell him what to do?
Anyone who has done him such a huge favor
that God has to ask his advice?
Everything comes from him;
Everything happens through him;
Everything ends up in him.
Always glory! Always praise!
Yes. Yes. Yes

[Romans 11:36:  The Message]

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A foundational belief of our faith is that our “chief and highest end is to glorify God and fully enjoy him forever” [Westminster Confession].   The message throughout Scripture is that we worship God because God is our great and worthy Creator.  In fact, the Bible tells us that all things, including the Earth and each of us, were created for God’s pleasure.  Augustine says in his Confessions:  “Thou hast created us for Thyself, O God, and our heart is restless until it finds repose in Thee.”  We glorify God because He, and He alone, deserves our praise, honor and worship.

Glorifying God means that we acknowledge his greatness.  We honor him by praising and worshipping Him in all we do.  Glorifying God also includes devoting ourselves to his service and following him in obedience.  We glorify God when we love others as He loves us, when we teach/preach the Gospel so that others may know Him, and when we put our trust in Him instead of the world.  We must humble ourselves to God’s glory and make ourselves subject to his glory, honor and power – placing God’s will ahead of our own worldly desires.

How can I glorify God today, in this moment?  How can knowing that my entire purpose in life is to please God impact what I decide to do and how I decide to live my life?

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