A: We glorify God by enjoying Him, loving Him, trusting Him, and by obeying His will, commands, and laws.
You shall therefore love the Lord your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always.
The basis of the Christian living comes from the understanding that men have been created for the glory of God. And because we have been created for the glory of God, all our words and our actions must reflect of how glorious our God is.
“In the same way, let your light shine before others, so that they may see your good works and give glory to your Father who is in heaven.” (Matthew 5:16)
In order to glorify God, it is to our utmost importance to know God. Knowing God will drive us to extol and worship Him. To glorify God is to extol His attributes as God and telling of how only God is worthy of saving such depraved people like us. This is not really possible if we do not know who God is.
To glorify God, we must come to full understanding that this requires us to enjoy Him, love Him, trust Him, and obey Him.
First, glorifying God is about how we enjoy Him. Even in ordinary life, we can give certain value or glory to objects or people when we enjoy them and delight in what they do.
Take for example, when we watch a good movie, we glorify the movie as we enjoy the quality of the movie and tell others about how awesome the movie was. Or when you are served delicious food, you glorify the cook by enjoying the food itself. It is the pleasure that indicates how much you appreciate and treasure the object that gives you pleasure.
In the same way, we glorify God by delighting in Him and treasuring Him above all things because He is greater than any movie, any food, or any act of kindness from our earthly parents. We show gratitude to God by enjoying Him. We show how much we value God by our joy in spending time with Him. As John Piper says, “God is most glorified when we are most satisfied in Him.”
“You make known to me the path of life; in your presence there is fullness of joy; at your right hand are pleasures forevermore.” (Psalm 16:11)
Being in the presence of God, we will be filled with joy and pleasure for God is able to fill our deepest longings and desires. C.S. Lewis in The Weight of Glory says: “Our Lord finds our desires not too strong but too weak. We’re half-hearted creatures, fooling around with drink and sex and ambition. When infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum, because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”
If what the Psalmist said was true, our deepest longings for joy and pleasure of this world can only be satisfied by God because God provides full and forever joy. And it is impossible to not glorify God when we come into His presence. If this is all true, our glorifying of God comes as we enter into His presence that results in us enjoying Him in our constant communion with Him.
Second, glorifying God is about how we love Him. We must “love the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.” (Deuteronomy 6:5)
The saints of the Old Testament had one thing in common, and it was that they made this command the utmost priority of life. They would see that there was nothing in comparison to loving God. There was no other sensible option than to love God because loving God was for their “own good.” (Deuteronomy 10:12-13)
When we love God, it is not some sort of non-reciprocated love because God loves us even greater. It is a love which pours out abundant and profuse blessings on those who choose to love God for God is a good God.
Throughout the Bible, those who have chosen to give whole souled, hearted love to God were the ones who knew the mercies of God and were blessed out of God’s covenantal promises. “I love those who love me,” (Proverb 8:17) God says.
Even throughout the New Testament, the command to love God is frequently shown.
“If anyone has no love for the Lord, let him be accursed.” (1 Corinthians 16:22)
“Whoever loves father or mother more than me is not worthy of me, and whoever loves son or daughter more than me is not worthy of me.” (Matthew 10:37)
Loving God is to prefer Him above all other things. If you are going to give glory to God, you must love and prefer him above money, fame, honor, success, friends, family, and all other possible idols that the world offers.
The love that we have for God glorifies Him because it shows clear understanding on our part that there is no other better option but to love and prefer God. It demonstrates our understanding that we are willing to follow the command of God to love Him with all heart, all soul, and all might.
Third, glorifying God is evident by how much we trust Him. Our faith brings glory unto God. It is just as simple as that. God is glorified when we trust Him.
“No unbelief made him waver concerning the promise of God, but he grew strong in his faith as he gave glory to God.” (Romans 4:20)
The world must see through us that we glorify God. Many times, we talk about how God is so wonderful and we post online some verses about how we ought to trust in God. Then, some crisis hits and we completely ignore all our talk about the glorious God. If people see that, they will not give glory to God. God is glorified when we rest in the assurance of God’s promises and His trustworthiness.
“Whoever does not believe God has made him a liar.” (1 John 5:10)
“So when God desired to show more convincingly to the heirs of the promise the unchangeable character of his purpose, he guaranteed it with an oath, so that by two unchangeable things, in which it is impossible for God to lie, we who have fled for refuge might have strong encouragement to hold fast to the hope set before us.” (Hebrews 6:17-18)
By lacking faith, we say that God is a liar. We greatly dishonor the nature of God as a trustworthy and immutable Being when we do not trust Him. Again, your trust in Him glorifies Him. God honors the faith of His beloved because faith honors Him.
Just imagine Shadrach, Meshach, and Abednego before King Nebuchadnezzar and the fiery furnace. In their deep faith of God, they declare: “If this be so, our God whom we serve is able to deliver us from the burning fiery furnace, and he will deliver us out of your hand, O king.” (Daniel 3:17)
Imagine, after they declare this, they fall to the ground in panic and refuse all the force leading them to the furnace, this would have been a disgraceful sight and the LORD God would not have been glorified. Why? Because it shows that the three young men had trouble in really having faith in God.
It is the same with the believers. God is most glorified when we live as if God does keep ALL of His Word and as if we believe that God is unchanging in His promises. Our failure to trust God only makes the world doubt of God’s existence and the glory that belongs to Him.
Fourth, glorifying God is about obeying Him. Throughout the Bible, God reminds the people that He is delighted in the obedience of His people. He would rather have obedience of the people rather than the ceremonies or the procession of empty worship.
“And Samuel said, “Has the LORD as great delight in burnt offerings and sacrifices, as in obeying the voice of the LORD? Behold, to obey is better than sacrifice, and to listen than the fat of rams.” (1 Samuel 15:22)
The obedience to God is powerful tool to glorify Him because it reminds us that God is worthy of praise through the obedience that we show to Him. Also, our obedience shows that God is committed to bringing Himself glory because God hates disobedience and empty acts. If God hates these things, we have the certainty that obeying God is what ultimately shows that we love Him.
The obedience also shows the power of God’s grace and, in turn, glorifies Him. The fact, that a depraved sinner can be transformed and that God overlooks the sins of the repentant in His grace to eventually mortify those sins, reveals that God is at the source of even our obedience. When we obey Him, we proclaim this power of God to transform our lives from a wickedly depraved sinner to obedient saints.
We also know from the Word of God that the obedience is ultimately for our own good. “And now, Israel, what does the LORD your God require of you, but to fear the LORD your God, to walk in all his ways, to love him, to serve the LORD your God with all your heart and with all your soul, and to keep the commandments and statutes of the LORD, which I am commanding you today for your good?”
For our good and for the glory of God, we must obey God and His commandments. Praise God that obeying God is not too hard and that we are shown much grace even at the point of our fall.
“For this commandment that I command you today is not too hard for you, neither is it far off.” (Deuteronomy 30:11)
“For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments. And his commandments are not burdensome.” (1 John 5:3)
How is the obedience to God not too burdensome? Because God is so gracious and so good to us that, through Christ’s perfect obedience, we are already seen perfect in our obedience if we trust in Christ. This must lead us to joy in our acts of obedience for we already know that God delights in our heart of obedience.
Glorifying God is certainly not an easy task if we think in human terms, but it is definitely possible. It is a Biblical command given to us that we glorify God. Therefore, enjoy Him, love Him, trust Him, and obey Him. The sum of Christian life is exactly at that: have we enjoyed God enough? Have we loved God enough? Have we trusted God enough? Have we obeyed God enough?
And the beautiful thing about Christian life is that when we fully enjoy God, we can abandon all other things and prefer God over all things, thus loving God. When we love God and we prefer Him over all, we can trust Him because He is the best option in our life (for His promises tells us so and God does not lie). When we trust God, it is impossible not to obey Him because obedience stems from trusting God’s existence and His goodness. As we obey Him, we enjoy Him for we find obedience to God is so satisfying and so fulfilling in our lives.
I pray and hope that we will be able to glorify God – enjoying Him, loving Him, trusting Him, and obeying Him. Praise God that He is worthy of the glory – the glory of God is our true joy and our good.