Week 1 - Thursday

Give Glory to God

to bring about the obedience of faith among all the Gentiles, for His name's sake (Romans 1:5b)

Because of their sins all people are separated from God, they are headed toward judgment and they desperately need to be saved. Every person would end up being condemned by God too, if it were not for the fact that Jesus came into the world to save sinners (1 Tim. 1:15). Jesus didn't have to save us though. He could have left us all to die in our sins and He would have been just in doing that. But the best known Bible verse of all tells us why that didn't happen. "For God so loved the world, that He gave His only begotten Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish, but have eternal life" (John 3:16). God chose to save us from our sins because He loves us. God doesn't just want to save us from destruction though. He also wants to give us eternal life. He wants us to live with Him forever. But because God is holy, He will not have us sinning in front of Him forever. God wants us to obey Him because He wants us to be holy just like He is. After His resurrection, and just before he went back to heaven, Jesus gave these final instructions to His apostles, "Therefore go and make disciples of all nations ... teaching them to obey all that I have commanded you" (Matt. 28:19-20 NIV). The word disciple means a student or learner. Everyone who believes in Jesus is a disciple of His and what Jesus wants us to to learn, is to obey His commands. A faith in Christ that does not result in obedience to Him, is not real faith at all. In John 14:15 Jesus said, "If you love Me, you will keep My commandments." This means that if Jesus really is your Lord, your faith in Him will result in obedience to Him.

Our salvation is the result of God's great mercy and love for us and its purpose is to bring about our obedience. However the most important reason God saved us is for His name's sake which means for His glory. Everything God has created is for His glory, including us. We were created so that we might bring glory to God, and nothing glorifies God more than our obedience. Some people have a problem with understanding why God wants all this glory. If any human being were to seek glory for themselves, it would be a sin. However no person deserves that kind of glory, only God does. We often look up to people who are better than us and praise them for their accomplishments. But who could God look up to and praise? Who would God glorify if it were not for Himself? No one, because there is no one greater than God. God is the only one who can say to everybody else, "Give glory to Me", and be perfectly justified in doing so. God receiving glory is simply a matter of who He is. He is the Creator of the universe. He saved us from our sins. He provides us with all of our needs. It is our duty and obligation to bring glory to Him. Dedicate yourself to doing what you were created to do, obeying God and bringing glory to His name. God deserves our praise and worship and our obedience too.

Readings for today: Luke 6:46; James 2:14, 26; Eph. 2:10; Eph. 1:4-17; Rom. 14:11