Glorify

Glorify

"So that with one heart and mouth you may glorify
the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ."
Romans 15:6

One of the definitions that the Net Bible gives to the word glorify is "to cause the dignity and worth of some person to become manifest and acknowledged." We glorify God not just by the words we speak or the songs we sing in church but, as the Message Bible adds to Romans 15:6, by our very lives. An example is seen in John 17:4 where Jesus said:

"I glorified you on earth by completing the work you gave me to do."

What brought this thought of glorifying the Lord by the way we live to my mind was the attempted Christmas Day terrorist attack on the Northwest Airlines plane that was landing in Detroit. The interview with the father of the accused man revealed a father who was disgraced, embarassed and dishonored by the actions of his son. The father, a prominent banker in Nigeria, has gone so far as to warn authorities about the direction his son's life has taken.

We would all like to think that we live in a bubble in the sense that our lives are ours to live as we see fit. But the reality is that so many other lives are affected by the way we live and by the choices and decisions we make. You don't have to look very far to see how parent's decisions affect the lives of their children. And as the recent story makes clear, children's decisions can also affect in very dramatic ways the lives of their parents.

As sons and daughters of our heavenly Father, we are in a place where our lives can honor and glorify the Father or do the opposite, dishonoring Him in ways we would never equate to our relationship with God. Whether we like it or not, our words can glorfiy God when we ascribe to Him goodness and greatness, declaring our trust in Him and being thankful for His provision, or they can dishonor Him when we complain about our circumstances or are negative about what lies ahead in our future.

My prayer for each of you in 2010 is that your lives will glorify the Father by the way you live your life. Using the definition we started with, that your words and actions throughout 2010 will cause the dignity and worth of God the Father to be manifest and acknowledged by many others. Let's purpose in our hearts to glorify God in the New Year we are beginning today!

Happy New Year & God Bless
Pastor Joe
Gateway Church