Question: "What does it mean to glorify God?"
Answer:
To “glorify” God means to give glory to Him. The word glory as
related to God in the Old Testament bears with it the idea of greatness
of splendor. In the New Testament, the word translated “glory” means
"dignity, honor, praise and worship." Putting the two together, we find
that glorifying God means to acknowledge His greatness and give Him
honor by praising and worshiping Him, primarily because He, and He
alone, deserves to be praised, honored and worshipped. God’s glory is the essence of His nature, and we give glory to Him by recognizing that essence.
The question that comes to mind is if God has all the glory, which He
does, how then do we “give Him” glory? How can we give God something
which is His in the first place? The key is found in 1 Chronicles 16:28-29,
“Ascribe to the LORD, O families of nations, ascribe to the LORD glory
and strength, ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name. Bring an
offering and come before him; worship the LORD in the splendor of his
holiness.” In this verse, we see two actions on our part that make up
the action of glorifying God. First, we “ascribe” or give glory to Him
because it is His due. No one else deserves the praise and worship that
we give to glorify Him. Isaiah 42:8
confirms this: "I am the LORD; that is my name! I will not give my
glory to another or my praise to idols.” Second, we are to “bring an
offering” to God as part of the worship that glorifies Him. What is the
offering we bring to God to glorify Him?
The offering we bring to God as we come before Him in the splendor or
beauty of His holiness involves agreement, obedience, submission, and
rehearsing His attributes or extolling Him. Glorifying God begins with
agreeing with everything He says, especially about Himself. In Isaiah 42:5,
God declares, “I am the Lord God. I created the heavens like an open
tent above. I made the earth and everything that grows on it. I am the
source of life for all who live on this earth, so listen to what I say.”
Because of who He is, holy and perfect and true, His proclamations and
statutes are holy and perfect and true (Psalm 19:7),
and we glorify Him by listening to and agreeing with them. God’s Word,
the Bible, is His Word to us, all that we need for life in Him.
Listening to and agreeing with Him, though, will not glorify Him unless
we also submit to Him and obey the commands contained in His Word. “But
from everlasting to everlasting the LORD's love is with those who fear
him, and his righteousness with their children's children—with those who
keep his covenant and remember to obey his precepts” (Psalm 103:17-18). Jesus reiterated the idea that glorifying and loving God are one and the same in John 14:15: “If you love me, you will obey what I command.”
We also glorify God by rehearsing His attributes and His deeds. Stephen,
in his final sermon before he was killed for his faith, retold the
story of God’s dealings with Israel from the time Abraham left his
country in obedience to God’s command, all the way to the coming of
Christ, the “Righteous One,” whom Israel betrayed and murdered. When we
tell of God’s work in our lives, how He saved us from sin, and the
marvelous works He does in our hearts and minds every day, we glorify
Him before others. Even though others don’t always want to hear our
glorifying God, He is more than pleased by it. The crowd who heard
Stephen hated what he said, covering their ears and rushing at him to
stone him. “But Stephen, full of the Holy Spirit, looked up to heaven
and saw the glory of God, and Jesus standing at the right hand of God” (Acts 7:55).
To glorify God is to extol His attributes—His holiness, faithfulness,
mercy, grace, love, majesty, sovereignty, power, and omniscience, to
name a few—rehearsing them over and over in our minds and telling others
about the singular nature of the salvation only He offers.
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