I hear religious people make the following statement all the time: "All I want to do is give glory to God." My thoughts are always the same when I hear this kind of statement: WHAT DO YOU MEAN BY THAT? Do you mean by that you want to hold your hands up in the air, shout "hallelujah", dance around, sing, even shout out "in the name of Jesus"? Is that really giving glory to God? Is there a Scriptural definition of HOW God's children "give glory to God"? You can rest assured, there is a Scriptural definition - "Therefore it is of faith, that it might be by grace; to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed; not to that only which is of the law, but to that also which is of the faith of Abraham; who is the father of us all, (As it is written, I have made thee a father of many nations,) before him whom he believed, even God, who quickeneth the dead, and calleth those things which be not as though they were. Who AGAINST HOPE BELIEVED IN HOPE, that he might become the father of many nations, according to that which was spoken, So shall thy seed be. And being not weak in faith, he considered not his own body now dead, when he was about an hundred years old, neither yet the deadness of Sara’s womb: (HERE IS THE DEFINITION OF GIVING GLORY TO GOD) He staggered not at the promise of God through unbelief; but was strong in faith, GIVING GLORY TO GOD; And BEING FULLY PERSUADED that, what HE HAD PROMISED, HE WAS ABLE TO PERFORM."(Rom.4:16-21)
So to "give glory to God" isn't something mystical, mysterious, or emotional. It is to dogmatically believe what God has promised IN SPITE of all the circumstances and difficulties which seem to be utterly impossible to overcome. Here is an example: I have believed and rested in Christ as the "LORD MY RIGHTEOUSNESS", yet nearly 30 years after having been brought to true faith and true repentance, I must tragically confess: "For I know that in me (that is, in my flesh,) dwelleth no good thing: for to will is present with me; but how to perform that which is good I find not. For the good that I would I do not: but the evil which I would not, that I do."(Rom.7:18,19) Knowing this to be the case, often finding myself questioning whether or not I am truly His, I LOOK AWAY FROM SELF and by God-given faith "being fully persuaded (CONVINCED) that, what God had promised, He was able to perform." WHAT HAS GOD PROMISED ME, a sinner by birth, by nature, by practice, and even by choice? "And this is the promise that he hath promised us, [even] eternal life." (I Jn.2:25) What was true for Abraham, the father of the faithful, who did indeed give "glory to God" is still and will always be true for ALL HIS SEED, those born of God by the Holy Spirit through the preaching of God's glorious Gospel. THEY BELIEVE GOD'S PROMISE.
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