What Does It Mean to Glorify God?

Do you ever get stuck on a “but what does it mean?” train of thought?

I got on this train while thinking about glorifying God after writing my last post about 1 Corinthians 10:31. The notion of glorifying God sometimes seems vague to me! What does it actually look like in every day to glorify God? How do we glorify God when we don’t know what we should even be doing in the moment?

Join me for a little tour on this train of thought?

• What does it mean to glorify God?

I like how Michael Reeves explains it in one of my new favorite books, Delighting in the Trinity:

“…’Glorifying’ God cannot be about inflating, improving, or expanding him. That is quite impossible with the God who is already superabundant and overflowing with life. Instead, when we give God the glory, we simply ascribe to him what is already his, declaring him to be as he truly is.”

But…

• What does it mean to ascribe?

A summary of the definitions I could find for ascribe is simply, “assessing something accurately.” It might be assessing the cause of an effect, or recognizing someone’s attributes as they are, or determining the value of something and paying accordingly. 

That’s easy to apply in legal terms, I guess, but…

•  What does it mean to assess God accurately? 

We glorify God when we assess Him accurately, but we assess in many different ways, often subconciously. We assess His goodness, His works, His Word, His love, His presence, and much more without even thinking about it.

For example, when we do something we know we shouldn’t because no one is there to know or care, we are not assessing God’s presence accurately. He knows, he cares. On the flipside, when we ask God’s help in something even so basic as finding a parking space, we are assessing God accurately. We are believing and then living according to the belief that God is present, cares, and is all-powerfully able to help us. 

We might want to be this intentional, but…

• What does it mean to assess God accurately while living our actual lives?

Much of our assessing of God has to be subconscious. We are limited human beings who cannot spend every waking moment only and entirely determining what we believe about God and what we ought to do as a result. But what we do consciously guides what we do subconsciously. Our choices also influence our hearts!

When we are consciously orienting ourselves to God daily, when we intentionally remember (since we so easily forget) who He is, when we obey His clear commands like to love Him and to love others, when we pray, when we read His Word, when we surround ourselves with fellow believers who will point us to Him, when we purposefully pray for unbelievers and seek opportunities to share Christ with them… these and many other conscious decisions fill us up in a way that will steer us well.

These sorts of choices make us attentive to the Holy Spirit in us who can direct our minds toward a correct assessment of God in the myriad moments we’re “just living.” And, God often works through these kinds of choices to change our hearts so that we want what He wants and love what He loves – another form of accurately assessing God!

All this might seem sensical, but…

• What does it mean to glorify God in this?

Getting beyond making consistent choices to be filled in ways that will guide us to God’s glory, we sometimes need to be more direct in how intentional we are about glorifying God.

There are times when we can and should stop to ask the question too – “Am I assessing God accurately in this?” 

Often when we ask this – or at least, when I do! – we start by looking at our own behavior or circumstances. We think we can figure out what’s right, and adjust accordingly. But building on these other questions and answers, there’s a helpful correction to where we begin our investigation. 

Start with assessing Him, not me or you. 

Start with who God is, what He loves, what He says is good, what He promises.

Then get to “what makes sense in response?”

Then get to “is that what I’m doing?”

Then get to “I’m sorry for not, help me to…”

Then get to the doing of it, because of who He is and how worthy of praise and honor He is!

What question comes next for you?

This post may also be shared on #RechargeWednesday.