This is the second devotional in a series of God’s glory. Click here to revisit last week’s message from John.
Sometimes you hear the phrase, “God is my co-pilot” or “God is my partner.” These could not be further from true. God is God!
So often in my own personal prayer life I think in terms of me. I go to God to ask Him to give me things or help me. As we grow, we begin to see that this world isn’t about us, it’s about God. And that’s a good thing because as our perfect Father, He can only seek and act for our good.
The ultimate passion of God is His own glory. He is the priority.
Now, if I visited you and said, “Folks, the most important thing is me. We are going to talk about my glory today, and how important I am,” you would get up and very quickly leave. And rightfully so.
“If it is right for man to have the glory of God as his goal, can it be wrong for God to aim at the same goal? If man can have no higher end and motive than God’s glory, how can God? And if it is wrong for man to seek a lesser end than this, then it would be wrong for God, too. The reason why it cannot be right for man to live for himself, as if he were God, is simply the fact that he is not God; and the reason why it cannot be wrong for God to seek His own glory is simply the fact that He is God.” -J.I. Packer
Throughout Scripture, God is trying to bring us back to being used by Him to bring Him honor and glory. In this pursuit, we find freedom. Why? Because God is love.
His glory is the path to experiencing His love.
When Jesus says, “Follow Me,” it’s because He loves us. In Him, we experience God’s best as we pursue His glory.
“I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.” -Philippians 1:20
For Paul, living and dying because of his affiliation to Christ was very real. In our culture, this looks more like remembering we are made by God and for God regardless of success or failure. In both good and bad times, we must remember He loves us and seeks our highest good.
Jesus exemplifies this best. He knew that the Father’s glory could be trusted, and in view of the cross He told the Father, “Not my will, but yours be done” (Luke 22:42).