"It's all for his glory!" was really cliche to my most of my life, but something is happening recently that has left me starting to take a serious look at this phrase and its implications.
On my January 17, my 25th birthday, I woke up and found myself praying this: "God I thank you for 25 years but quite frankly if you won't be incredibly glorified, and your kingdom radically advanced through the rest of my life, I would rather you just take me now." As I thought about what I just prayed in my hazy, just-woken-up state, it hit me that if this life is all for his glory...then it just isn't about me, my wants or desires. And it's not that God says I can't have desires, but rather as I am changed by being in his presence his desires become my desires.
I do believe that life is all for his glory, all over the Bible God is quoted saying, "I will do ____ for the sake of my name." Thus we need to look at the implications of this. Two of the many areas that I have noticed the implications in are in worship and relationships.
Worship: I used to go into worship to get something out of it, whether feeling, revelation, or just a good time with friends. The implication of it being all for his glory...it is not about me getting something or whether i feel like worshiping. The truth is he is worthy of my worship and his worth doesn't change based on my feeling like worshiping or not. So I just have decided to sing my heart out and worship with everything i have, especially when i don't feel like it. And it has been amazing!
Relationships: Specifically, guy-girl dating relationships. In the past I found that my motivation for wanting to get into a dating relationship has been either: "I like her", "She likes me", "I'm lonely", "We really like each other", "She is perfect", etc... In all of those scenarios, it is all about me. In the Bible God clearly lays out his reason for people to be married. It is to put on display, to the world, Christ's love for the church. It just isn't about us. Now if people have gotten in relationships for selfish reasons I do believe God can and does work despite this in very cool ways through them. But what if we were to be willing to wait on God to lead us into these relationships? I am not saying you have to have a radical dream or vision as confirmation but rather just the peace of know without a doubt that you are in obedience in marrying a person. The example of Christ is that he woos into marriage. Dating today (in general) really has just turned into practicing for divorce. When the feelings are gone or times get tough, they break up. But if people were getting into relationships to display God's love for the church to the world, there would be no more divorce in the church, because God doesn't break covenant no matter how awful his church gets.
Since that day I have been waking up and praying, "God you woke me up today, so you must receive your glory through my life and your kingdom must be advanced through me today." And everyday I have prayed that, God has given me and opportunity to advance his kingdom some how, whether in a big or little way, through praying for someone, sharing a testimony, healing a sick person, going out of my to show God's love to someone who people don't give the time of day, etc... This has really helped me humble myself in a lot of situations by just simply remembering that it just isn't about me. To Him be the glory forever.
My friend wrote a great note about relationships if you are interested here.
Also this song says it all so beautifully: Jesus, Lover of My Soul
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