Our first impression of God's regular exhortation to honor/glorify Him throughout scripture is it sounds like God is on an ego trip. Honor me, obey me, listen to me. But is this true? Since we are designed by and for God, could something totally different be going on?
Is it possible that the call of God to glorify him is a call to experience our greatest glory and joy? i.e. our greatest sense of value, meaning, importance, etc.? If so, how?
Is it possible that the call of God to glorify him is a call to experience our greatest glory and joy? i.e. our greatest sense of value, meaning, importance, etc.? If so, how?
God calls us to
glorify Him because He knows nothing else is greater than Him. It is only in and through Him - the All-Glorious On - we experience our greatest glory and joy. Though our greatest glory is not our focus, it is the fruit of beholding and honoring him.
When we are asked to behold something beautiful, are we not delighted once we do? Yet our delight isn't our goal, it is to gaze on that which is beautiful. These two are inseparable.
If God were
not the God of great glory and we were not like Him (in His image), we would not experience the immense joy of knowing
him or have the ability to experience Him in all His glory. We not only exist because he made us but we
also enjoy him in a way nothing else in creation can because of the way he
made us i.e. like Him, the all-glorious (beautiful) God.
The reason beholding Him can be about our greatest glory is that it is all about God's first, the most glorious - beautiful being in the universe, and because we are like Him.
The
reason God "pushes" so hard for us to constantly glorify him is because
his love of us is that great i.e. he longs for our greatest delight and joy and knows that is most fulfilled in Him. The call to glorify God is a call to be loved by Him - to receive and most fully experience his love, joy, and bliss that already exists between the Father, Son, and Spirit. The stronger the call the greater the love.
If you (i.e. God) know that what you offer is that good and the love you have for the person you make the offer to is that great, you will go to great lengths to persuade them to take up your offer to the point of going over the top in your efforts; maybe even coming off as obnoxious or self-centered at times e.g. glorify me, honor me, pay attention to me and nothing or no one else as the source of your joy and meaning etc... You (God) know once they accept your proposal they will be delighted they did and be forever grateful for your persistence and staying "on" them.
God
doesn't call us repeatedly because he needs us (Acts 17:24-25) to glorify him (knowing and experiencing his own glory has already been and continues to be the essence of his being as Father, Son, and Spirit from all eternity past). He knows we need to
glorify him. It is in our best interest when we do.
He
also calls us to glorify him simply because first and foremost he is all
glorious. For him to call us to glorify anyone or thing other than him is not only
untrue but it is to our harm and greatest loss.
The
call of God to glorify him is an invitation to experience our greatest delight and joy. A
joy that can only be found in the source of ultimate delight and joy i.e. The
inter-relational joy and delight found from and within the Father, Son and
Spirit.
In summary, there are two parts to God's call for us to glorify him.
1. He is all glorious. To find a greater glory in
anything other than God is simply not true or possible. He alone is most glorious.
2. He loves us infinitely and therefore desires
our greatest delight and joy.
Actually, there is a third that flows out of the first two.
3. As we increasingly experience God in all his glory, our desire to share it (him) with others grows, thereby expanding or multiplying His glory throughout the world, bringing joy to a greater number and greater honor to him as well as greater joy to us.
Other links that look at different aspects of experiencing his glory and our worth:
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Grace to you
Jim Deal