Saturday, August 22, 2009

Tuesday, August 11, 2009

To Glorify God

I heard this lesson from a friend of mine, Pastor Brian, a few weeks ago and felt it was worth repeating. Glorifying God is not duty driven. God is glorified by our obedience. The more we obey the more He is glorified. Obedience cannot be the reason we love God.

What is our main motive – is it out of duty or is it to delight in the Lord? How you answer this question will determine how you live your life.

Let me give you an example – kissing my wife goodnight – after 24 years of marriage there has been a lot of good night kissing going on.

I could kiss my wife because I don’t want her to be mad. I could kiss my wife to let her know I’m not mad with her. I could kiss my wife to gain her affection, if you know what I mean. I could kiss my wife to let her know everything is ok even though my heart is far from her. I could kiss my wife because its what I always do. Or I could kiss my wife because she is my delight. She’s the one I love. I want her to be the last one I kiss at night and the first one I kiss in the morning. If I’m kissing my wife out of duty, that could be a bad thing. I should be kissing my wife out of delight. Delight has to be my main motive.

When it comes to my relationship with the God I could obey Him because I don’t want Him to be mad at me. I could obey God to let Him know I’m not mad at him. I could obey God to gain his affection. I could obey God to let Him know everything is ok even though my heart is far from Him. I could obey God because it’s what I always do. Or I could obey God because He is my delight; He’s the one I love. If I’m coming to God at night because I delight in Him it’s a whole nother thing.

I should obey god because I delight in him. Delight has to be our main motive. God is jealous for his own glory. This is a good thing.