I wanted to share some things that have been on my heart lately. For the last several weeks, I’ve been reminding myself that each thing I do can be used to bring glory to God. Everything. Remember when I talked about that before? I won’t go into all that again, but that kind of leads up to where I’m going with this post.
Before I go any further, let me give you a quick definition. The simplest definition of “glory” (for the purposes of this conversation) is fame. So to bring glory to God is to make Him famous. Everything we do can help make His name more known to those around us.
So the big problem that most of us face, when desiring to give glory to God, is that we are selfish and vain. None of us likes to think we are, but isn’t that really the core issue with a lot of our problems? On the one hand we want to bring glory to God, while on the other hand, we want to be sure we get some glory too.
Now there’s nothing wrong with being recognized for our achievements. In fact, that’s a great thing. When we work hard on something, it feels good to see it acknowleged. Jesus Himself is a great encourager and often spoke about the good things that people had done. It becomes a problem when that recognition is the PURPOSE for our doing the work in the first place.
So I guess the real “gut-check” is this….we must constantly ask ourselves if we are doing something for our own glory or for God’s. And then we need to be honest with our answer. That can be difficult, but it is necessary if we honestly want to serve Him.
There’s a song we sing at church called “It’s All About You.” The lyrics say this…..”It’s all about You, Jesus. And all this is for You, for Your glory and your fame. It’s not about me as if You should do things my way. You alone are God and I surrender to Your ways.” Pretty song. Easy to sing. Sometimes hard to live.
When I look back on things I’ve done, I can clearly see where my purposes were selfish. While I may have found some success, I still felt empty. And none of it, NONE OF IT, was lasting. It was gone in a moment. However, the things I did with a pure heart, totally for His glory, remain to this day. They touched lives and they made an impact (however small it may have been). That’s because when I let go of my own selfish desires, God was able to step in and work a miracle.
Every day I remind myself that it’s not about me. Period. It’s about bringing glory to HIM. If the world could get even just a taste of who He is, they would not go unmoved. Knowing who I am does nothing for them, but knowing Him changes everything.
The funny thing is, when I set my own selfish desires to the side, He blesses me anyway. It’s crazy, but true! He meets ALL my needs and even gives me almost everything I ever wanted. I asked Him once “Lord, why is it that when I want to lift You up, I end up being the one lifted up?” And the answer was like a ton of bricks. “Duh! It’s because you’re doing what you were created to do.” Okay, maybe God doesn’t say “duh” to you, but I swear He said it to me. 
So do we put our selfishness aside because we know He’s going to bless us anyway? No. That’s just lagniappe. Our motives are still selfish if that’s the reason we’re doing it. Is it always going to be easy? Absolutely not. There are going to be times when serving Him means sacrifice. Sometimes it means helping in ways that nobody ever hears about. Sometimes it means countless hours of work that goes completely unrecognized by others. Sometimes it means giving something up that you never see again. But if our heart’s desire to bring glory to HIM and not to ourselves, though it may be difficult….it is absolutely worth it. He will be glorified and LIVES WILL CHANGE.
Though the blessings on earth are deeply appreciated, the greatest reward I can imagine will be one day hearing Him say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant.” Can you just imagine it?! Him looking directly into your eyes and saying you’ve done well?!?! WOW!!!!
So today, let’s sing this song…..
It’s all about You, Jesus. And all this is for You, for Your glory and Your fame. It’s not about me….as if You should do things my way. You alone are God and I surrender to Your ways.
