“We who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory.”
(Ephesians 1:12)
For all we do as humans we still fall short of God’s requirement that we do all for his glory.
As a Christian my first thoughts of the day should start with, “How will God be glorified by my walk today?” How can I a mere mortal man use my gifts, talents and position to glorify God in all I do? It is not such a simple task. During this eventful political season, our own glory can override our duty to glorify God. We can get so caught up in trying to be “Right” and in trying to “Win” that we can lose sight of living our lives for Gods purpose. It is our flesh which draws us to being “Right” and “Wining”. It is Satin who stokes the fire of our burning desire to make the world in our own image. Even as Christians we are prone to getting caught up in the “Pride of Winning”.
Pride of Winning:
Some us make the election into a sort of Super Bowl of popular image. On the Obama side, the brand and the slogans were the image: “Change”, “Hope”, “Yes, We Can!” The pictures, the Obama seal, the airplane the massive crowds, all led to his victory through the self-pride of the people. Obama was a personal symbol to many of they could be if only the world was fair, if only American was fair, if only life was fair, they would be in the drivers seat. Obama’s image, brand, style, and crowd appeal made him the candidate of human pride. For his followers winning is the goal, the end game, the hope they were looking for; Obama’s governance is only an after thought. To many Obama believers it matters little what his policies will do to America, it matters greatly that his image creates a dream in their minds.
To be fair many supporters of McCain had winning as their goal. Perhaps a more to the truth is that they had defeating Obama as their passion. Sometimes we hate one team more than we love another which leads to us cheering against a team rather than for our favorite.
For many of us we worked for the Glory of God:
We worked to put someone in the White House who would continue to try and protect the most innocent; the babies in the womb. We worked to place someone in the White House who would take a strong stance against legalizing same-sex marriage. We worked to keep Supreme Court Justices who follow the constitution instead of trying to rewrite it. We worked to keep someone in the White House who would know how to fight against Islamofascism and protect Israel at the same time.
Matthew Henry writes in his Bible commentary:
To the praise of the glory of his grace (v. 6), that we should be to the praise of his glory (v. 12)
that is, that we should live and behave ourselves in such a manner that his rich grace might be magnified, and appear glorious, and worthy of the highest praise. All is of God, and from him, and through him, and therefore all must be to him, and centre in his praise. Note, The glory of God is his own end, and it should be ours in all that we do (Matthew Henry).
This election was a choice between turning our country towards God’s glory or away from God’s glory; In my opinion America has chosen the later.
It seems a simple matter to me to have known which candidate would follow a more Godly path; not that either man is a saint, or a Billy Graham or for that matter even a George Bush. But on key issues there is a difference in the impact an Obama presidency will have around the world. The facts are that , Israel will be less safe, Islamoterrorists will feel empowered, more abortions will be performed world wide and eventually, with the liberalizing of our courts and the emboldened Gay activists, Gay marriage is just around the corner.
Today is the day we should be about the praise of His Glory!
But even with a new President who does not adhere to the beliefs of the historical Christian church, we will rejoice and be about His Glory. It is still our calling and our duty to do all we can to bring glory to God. Whenever we can and wherever we walk we should be about the task of bringing praise to His Glory. We should be about telling others of His glory and prising Him in our daily walk and routine.
“We who first trusted in Christ should be to the praise of His glory”
*** *** ***
SHALLOW AND PROFOUND
“Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” 1 Corinthians 10:31
Beware of allowing yourself to think that the shallow concerns of life are not ordained of God; they are as much of God as the profound. It is not your devotion to God that makes you refuse to be shallow, but your wish to impress other people with the fact that you are not shallow, which is a sure sign that you are a spiritual prig. Be careful of the production of contempt in yourself, it always comes along this line, and causes you to go about as a walking rebuke to other people because they are more shallow than you are. Beware of posing as a profound person; God became a Baby.
To be shallow is not a sign of being wicked, nor is shallowness a sign that there are no deeps: the ocean has a shore. The shallow amenities of life, eating and drinking, walking and talking, are all ordained by God. These are the things in which Our Lord lived. He lived in them as the Son of God, and He said that “the disciple is not above his Master.”
Our safeguard is in the shallow things. We have to live the surface common-sense life in a common-sense way; when the deeper things come, God gives them to us apart from the shallow concerns. Never show the deeps to anyone but God. We are so abominably serious, so desperately interested in our own characters, that we refuse to behave like Christians in the shallow concerns of life.
Determinedly take no one seriously but God, and the first person you find you have to leave severely alone as being the greatest fraud you have ever known, is yourself.
*** *** ***
