In Search Of A Better Tomorrow

According to Westminster Shorter Catechism, “the chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”

The definition of “to glorify” is “to give the dignity, honor, respect, praise, and worship appropriate to the gift or standing of object or person.”  “To glorify God” means to “give Him the dignity, honor, respect, praise, and worship due to God as the gracious gift He is to us.” “Glorify” can also be associated with the following: “to reflect, to show forth, to demonstrate and to express the image of an object or person so that it can be seen by all.”

So, why should we glorify God? First of all, “to glorify God” is one of man’s purposes. John Piper says: “Birds were made to fly. Fish were made to swim. We were made to glorify God.” In Isaiah 43:7, God says: “Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made.” Humanity exists to glorify God.

Secondly, God deserves to be praised. His creation reveals God’s glory and shows His powerfulness. Revelation 4:11 says: “Worthy are you, our Lord and God, to receive glory and honor and power, for you created all things, and by your will they existed and were created.” God commanded in words for creation to exist, and it is was formed. For example, in Genesis 1:3, “And God said, ‘Let there be light’, and there was light.“ Only God can do that.

God is the only being that pre-existed and wasn’t created by a being. He is perfect, without any flaws, in every infinite way. Perfect and complete, lacking or needing nothing, in every possible conceivable way. He is holy, mercy and truth, faithfulness, just, deliverer, sovereign, omniscient, omnipotent, omnipresent, immutable, love, etc. – again He is infinitely flawless in all things.

If God is not insufficient in any way, then that would mean God doesn’t need to be glorified. Then why does God desire so immensely to be being glorified? The answer is because we need Him to be glorified for our own benefit.

First of all, the fact that we people are unable to perceive accurately God as being truly glorious shows we are inadequate, flawed creatures. No human can completely fathom how great God is. We are unable to comprehend the things of God without God first revealing it to us.

Glory has weight attached to it, and unless we see an object’s value, we won’t seek it.

A diamond has greater value than a rock, and thus has more weight or glory attached to it. A diamond can be worth a million dollars while a rock is basically worthless in monetary value. People treasure diamonds more than rocks because they can get rich by possessing a diamond, because a diamond’s value can provide monetary blessings and satisfy financial needs – thus, a diamond is comparably perceived as greater value than a rock because the glory of a diamond can fulfill more needs and provide more benefit to a person that a rock can.

 God is more glorified than all of creation. There is no comparison. The gods of wealth, prestige, success, honor, and sex, for example, cannot satisfy man like God can. There is no greater enjoyment than an intimate, abiding, love relationship with God. And humanity lost it, starting in the Garden of Eden, when Adam and Eve sinned. After the fall of mankind, man became less cognizant of the glory of God, and thus, found idols in hopes of filling the void that man lost because of the consequences of their transgressions. Until man leaves its idols, and comes to God, man will never truly be happy.

God needs to be glorified – His greatness needs to grasped by man so man would realize his need for God and leave its idols and come to God. His glory needs to be reflected by Christians, so all people, including other Christians, would seek God with all their hearts, minds, and souls. Sin created a void, and all of humanity has suffered since. Thank God, God is a god of grace and mercy. He is the Father who longs for the return of every prodigal son.

Man’s biggest need: the glory of God is the salvation of its creatures.

Romans 3:23 correctly states: “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” Death and eternity in hell is the punishment for our sins; however, there is hope because of God’s mercy: “For the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord” (Romans 6:23). Thus, God deserves praise and should be glorified because His mercy chose to give sinful man a chance to experience eternal life, in spite of the fact our sins merit punishment.

In this gift of eternal life, God chose His Son to become the atonement to pay the penalty of our sinful deeds in our place, which happened during Christ’s crucifixion. Believers and accepters of this gift of salvation will be pardoned from all their sins and escape hell, enjoy an inheritance in heaven, become a child of God, be protected by the Lord Shepherd, and have a restored love relationship with God that will never end. Once saved, nothing (even sin) can ever separate the love of God from His children.

“Christ, who knew no sin, became sin for us” (see 2 Corinthians 5:21), so believers and accepters of this gift could experience righteousness and be spared of having to serve the sentence themselves. The blood of Christ, that was shed on the cross when Jesus was crucified, satisfied a holy God’s wrath to bring justice upon us, by the means of death in hell.  

If God’s perfect holiness and justice chose to overlook the penalty of our sins without someone serving time, God would not, of deserved to be glorified; nor would He deserve glory if His perfect mercy decided not to have compassion on the lost sinner, by giving him the opportunity of salvation. So, God in His perfect wisdom, chose His deity Jesus Christ to come on this planet as a man while still being God, and experience the same temptations to sin as man did (but Jesus chose not to sin) in order to become the atonement for our sins – allowing God to simultaneously remain perfectly just, holy, and merciful, while giving man an opportunity to experience eternal freedom and also, an abiding, intimate, love relationship with God. God’s perfect wisdom deserves to be glorified by man.

The transaction process of Christ paying the penalty of our sins and we, thus, being forgiven and declared not guilty, because of grace, only takes place if a sinner accepts the Trinity’s gift of salvation toward mankind. If a person admits they are a sinner; believes Jesus is deity, was sinless, and that He died on cross to pay the penalty for our sins and resurrected three days later; is willing to accept this gift of salvation (of Christ paying the penalty of our sin in our place), and not work to earn salvation by any means; has an attitude of repentance; and wants to be a child of God, will experience eternal life and not go to hell. 

God’s love gives every sinner free will to choose whether or not they want to go to heaven and become a child of God. God wouldn’t be perfect Love and thus not deserve to be glorified if God didn’t give man a choice, even when there are negative consequences for choosing unwisely. Eternal damnation is the irreversible consequence for not accepting Christ as your Savior; once a person dies in this world, their fate is sealed. For every human will be judged for ever action, thought, or decision made in their lifetime, good and bad. Accepters of God’s gift will be declared “not guilty”; those who refuse to become a Christian will be declared “guilty” – there is no escape from God’s judgment day which takes place after a person dies. No one except God knows the totality of a person’s life – so choose to ask Jesus in your heart before it is too late!

The freedoms of man are determined by whether or not man sees the glory of God. The two biggest reasons why God deserves glory because He is infinitely flawless and His value provides freedom to man’s two greatest needs: eternal freedom and intimacy with God.

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How the Christian can glorify God and experience freedom in the meantime

Freedom requires sound decision making, because there is a consequence to every decision made or not made. The greatest decision is in relation to your eternal salvation. Hell and total separation from God is the after life consequence to those who don’t Christ as their Savior. The second greatest decision is how to live your life on this planet:

“For you were bought at a price; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God’s.” (1 Corinthians 6:20).

“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31).

According to these verses, “we are to glorify God in everything we do, in body and in spirit, because we were bought at a price” (the price for our salvation, which happened when Christ atoned for our sins on the cross). We have free will to glorify God, but we should daily choose to glorify God: out of gratitude, for Christ’s sufferings, and for God’s mercy and grace. Other reasons for doing so are that, one, God wants to reward us in heaven for our good deeds on this planet, and secondly, we experience overabundant joy when we abide in Christ, which requires when we obey God’s commands to love one another (see John 15:10-12). When we glorify God, we are loving others because, if we don’t reflect properly reflect God’s image so it can be evident to this world, we are not loving the unsaved believers by our actions, because they could possibly be saved from hell, if we choose to reflect God’s glory by being a living example of Christ. So, there is an urgent need for the sake of freedom of the unbeliever and for future rewards in heaven and overabundant joy and peace in this world, So, again, according to 1 Corinthians 10:31, “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”

Again, Christian: the lost desperately needs to see the glory of God. Again, by definition, part of glorifying is ““to reflect, to show forth, to demonstrate and to express the image of an object or person so that it can be seen by all.” We are to “reflect God’s glory” in this world by striving to live holy lives, guided by the Word of God and by walking by the spirit, as we pursue our unique life purpose, guided by the Holy Spirit and empowered by abiding in the spirit (the Vine). We do it individually on our own (empowered by the Vine) and also in conjunction with the church body, united in God’s love. Whether or not the totality of our lives glorify God, is determined by our beliefs, desires, and decisions.

How To Glorify God and Experience Freedom in the Meantime

There’s Freedom in Glorifying God article, Day 2