One of the primary purposes of this ministry is to seek God’s glory. When God called me to start Changing the Face of Christianity, it wasn’t to lift me up. Rather, it was to bring Him glory.
Diminishing God’s Glory
I firmly believe that when Christians are acting un-Christ like, it diminishes God’s glory. And if we aren’t seeking to glorify God, then who will? Being un-Christ like gives unbelievers an argument against accepting our faith. If Christians aren’t practicing what we preach, why should they want to join us? So, in all things, we should be seeking to glorify God through our thoughts and actions.
Matthew 6:33 says, “But seek first his kingdom and his righteousness”.
But what does it mean to seek God’s glory? How do we do that exactly? What does seeking His Glory look like? Here are a few examples:.
Jesus Christ denied his own life for the plans and will of the Father. In doing so, Jesus was bringing Glory to the Father.
- Seeking God’s will, plans, and purposes over our own
- Obeying God’s commands
- Humbling ourselves and raising Him up
I’m reminded of Matthew 16:23-24, when Jesus rebuked Peter, “Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me; you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men. Then Jesus said to his disciples, “If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.”
When Jesus took the cup of the crucifixion to pay for our sins, he said in Matthew 26:39 ”…My Father, if it is possible, may this cup be taken from me. Yet not as I will, but as you will.”
Jesus Christ denied his own life for the plans and will of the Father. In doing so, Jesus was bringing Glory to the Father.
And so in summary, seeking God’s glory means surrendering to God and seeking His mind and will above our own. It means denying our own plans and pleasures in order to bring pleasure to God.
What About You?
But what about you? What does seeking the Glory of God mean to you? In what ways can you bring glory to God?
About R. Brad White
Respectable religious practices like prayer, fasting, or giving alms easily become a way to impress others with how godly one is. In Mt. 6:1-18 Jesus exposes “hypocrites” (actors, show-offs) who do such things in order to glorify themselves. In Mt. 5:16 Jesus does say to let your light shine so others can see your good works, but adds that this should lead others to glorify your Father, the one in heaven. The focus of these good works is being the light of the world (5:14). The ruling fathers of earth prefer works that glorify them and their kingdom (of earth), works like opposing and fighting their enemies, especially those in other nations. In contrast, Jesus is announcing a new international kingdom, the kingdom of (and from) heaven, that will be made up of disciples from every nation. Rather than pleasing their earthly fathers, they will remain “meek” (patiently gentle), “peacemakers” (making disciples in every nation and loving enemies), and merciful (to those neglected and oppressed by the ruling fathers) (5:5,7,9). These works are not so respectable in the eyes of the earth’s fathers–and their loyal followers–but when combined with Jesus’ gospel of the kingdom (of heaven), they can give glory to the one true Father, the one in heaven.
If you profess to be Christian then you should act like a Christian. Jesus asked us to protect the poor, who we will have with us always, he did not ask the government to do this but we as believing people’s of God. He avowed to the premise of one man and one women for the marriage. He also said do not kill and yet Christains for the most part turn their backs on the greatests of Gods creation that of child birth. We look at issues like what can I get for nothing, how is it going to benefit me. As Chirstians we are a community of believers that protect the life, freedom of religion, the rights of each other. If you are a Christian and do not beleive this and only think of self, then maybe you should take a hard look at your defining principles, and reevaluate you understanding of being Children of God.
In John 17, Jesus prays, “The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.” There’s a glory that Jesus gives us that’s the same that the Father gave to Him, so maybe it’s not so much seeking to bring God glory as something added to Him as it is finding and living in the glory already given in Christ. And that glory which Jesus received from the Father? . . . it’s the narrow gate and the hard road, it’s receiving the words we speak and the things we do always from God and not from our own initiative, it’s loving our enemies and forgiving those who have harmed us, it’s being meek and lowly in heart so that we can fully embrace all the hard things of love that God calls us to that will mean rest to our souls. It’s what Brad mentioned. . . that we would be like Him in this world, and being like Him is found in following Him in this world, having denied ourselves utterly and taking up our cross and the freedom that comes from that.