Glorifying Him

As a believer, I was taught to glorify God on the first day I stepped into church because my Saviour Jesus had saved me from eternal condemnation.

As a new convert, I learnt as much as I could on how to glorify my Lord. I was constantly reminded that faith without action is dead. So this little piece of “Godly advice” motivated me to perform so as to glorify. I spread the gospel, visited the sick, attended funeral, came to every prayer meetings, never missed a Sunday Service, always punctual in every meetings, tithed to God without fail and abide in all the rules and regulations adhered by the church. The magnification of gifts on me was defined as awards for my obedience and I was warned not to lose these gifts through my disobedience …. I was sort of the “Hebrew of Hebrews” in the Church then …

Despite of all these efforts, my leaders would at times, purposely ill treat me just to see if I was loyal and obedient. I was very determined to excel and with my perseverance, I told myself that with all my efforts, I would have no guilt for not glorifying my Lords. Who else can make it to heaven if I fail to make it? I was proud of what I was doing, though I looked humble….? My fresh was very pleased with me then, but the fellow in me, my inner man struggled…..

One day, my inner man told me that I have served the wrong Jesus; this “Jesus” I have been serving was not the Jesus Who saved me… I was puzzled but my spirit was refreshed. It was my inner man that led me to seek the Lord Who saved me. (A person still has to seek because he can not believe in the Light that he received.) It was at this stage that the grace of God started to impact on me. I found my First Love and the rest is history.

Do we really have to be taught to glorify our Lord?

Whenever I recall of all those self righteousness and religious activities, the passage described by Apostle Paul in the book of Philippians slap me right on my face. I felt ashamed and the self righteousness I got from my effort really stunk like dung. I am glad that He has put this dung at the foot of the Vine and this branch, has bore the fruit of righteousness. Hallelujah…..

Can we glorify God through our works? What is His opinion? This is the revelation I received from Him by grace and I can boldly declare to you that if we BELIEVE in Him, TRUST in His finished work and RECEIVE His grace with the knowledge of God, we are glorifying Him perfectly. Right believing produced right living and our right living based on the knowledge of God glorifies Him. At this point of time, whatever we do, we are doing out of the overflow of His grace. That is the type of work that glorifies Jesus!

This is what the Apostle Paul said in Roman 10: 2-4 For I can testify about them that they are zealous for God, but their zeal is not based on knowledge. Since they did not know the righteousness that comes from God and sought to establish their own, they did not submit to God’s righteousness. Christ is the end of the law so that there may be righteousness for everyone who believes.

We can never know the truth if we do not let Him take away the veil to see His grace. If we are not established in grace, we would not be able to receive His righteousness. Without His righteousness, we cannot glorify Him through our work. We need to live out the truth with the knowledge of God.

Know the truth; and the truth will set you free. When you are free, the freedom in you is glorifying Him!