why God calls us to glorify him

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?

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 One - 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 the result of gazing upon something 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 results in our greatest glory is because He is the most glorious, beautiful being in the universe and 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 Gods call, the greater His love is for us. 

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 infinite 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. Recognizing that nothing or no one else is the source of your joy and meaning etc... You (God) know once they accept your proposal to honor you they will be delighted they did and be forever grateful for your persistence and staying "on" them. 

God doesn't call us to exalt Him 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 because it is aligned with how things operate and who we are.

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 as most worthy of our praise and honor 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 and Son in, by, and through the 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 and greater joy to us. 

Other links that look at different aspects of experiencing his glory and our worth: 

·        Worthless rotten sinners

·        Hard wired for greatness

·        Created for glory
·        Does God value us?

·        Our worth based on what?

·        What is more important doing or being?

·        Gods love based on who or what?

·        Our worth - Gods glory

·        Giving and receiving glory

·        Why in Gods name does he love us?

everything is broken...however

All of us live in a broken world and deal with hardship, struggle, and pain. This is not unique to us nor are we somehow or for some reason singled out by God as a target for punishment because we experience challenges. 

You may have seen the bumper sticker that says "sh*t happens." This is a crass but accurate way of saying we experience unpleasant things in life. Suffering is simply part of living in a fallen and broken world. This crude bumper sticker reveals that on some level even the world gets this. 

Not only is our world broken but we are broken; every one of us... no exceptions. A primary indication is we all have an endless longing and need to be valued, accepted, approved, loved, and fully embraced. A longing designed to be satisfied by the Source of life, love, and all things. 

We are all in ²need of healing and restoration for not being loved and cherished the way God designed us to be, no matter how well-off we may think we are or appear to be. 

Being designed for great love creates a great void when we are absent that love. And this is simply because we have walked away from the Source of love and life, God himself. 

Some may not feel this kind of longing and will object saying they have never walked away from God. They just don't care or have any interest. If anything, they will likely say God has walked away from them. 

But if God is who He claims to be, to say you don't care or won't take the time to explore this, in effect is because you have walked away. 

God says he loves you. Have you explored this claim, what it means, if it's true or how it might be true? 

He also claims to be the Creator and Provider of all things. Do you acknowledge this claim? Have you explored whether either of these claims -- and many others -- have merit? 

If true, these claims are not insignificant... not by any stretch of your imagination! Should you ignore them? If you have not seriously explored them -- since they are serious claims -- and they turn out to be true, you have in effect walked away from God, not to mention doing so to your own harm and loss. 

To illustrate, if I offer you a million dollars and you thumb your nose at me and never seek to determine whether my offer is real or not -- when it is -- what would you call it if you didn't explore this offer? Unwise, even foolish?!

The issue isn't the actual offer -- which, for sake of discussion, we are saying is absolutely real - it's your not believing it to be true or at least checking it out to confirm if it is or isn't. This only means for you, the offer is not real when in truth it is.  

The fact that we also think we are going through a unique hardship and having a pity party as a result our unbelief only speaks to how self-obsessed, alone/separated/isolated all of us truly are. Because our relationship with God is severed - and therefore nonexistent - it results in all other things and relationships being broken. 

At a very deep level, we all long to connect with someone who sees us with our warts and all and still loves us. A kind of love with no strings attached or demands put upon us. 

Yet we seek this from others who can never truly and fully love us this way - which is why we hide our darkest, most shameful secrets (I am sure you can think of some) even from those closest to us. We long to be loved at a level in which we don't have to pretend or be concerned about hiding our true broken selves but are free to be who we really are and still be fully accepted. 

A solution that far exceeds the problem

The beauty of all of this is the all-wise and powerful Creator of all things stepped into our world of brokenness and pain as one of us i.e. as a human being, so he could take on the ultimate pain and suffering of rejection, ridicule, persecution, and hatred - not to mention God poured out his full judgment for the rebellion of mankind (including our own) onto Christ, his eternally beloved Son. This led to and resulted in Christ's death - when he, in fact, deserved none of this. He did this so he could one day free us from all the pain and suffering of this broken world. A world we broke, but he came to fix. Death (his) occurred to bear the consequences of our breaking things and the hurt and pain it caused to others, not to mention the pain it brings upon ourselves. 

He also did this knowing fully the condition in which he would find us. Jesus died for us so he could reunite us to the Father knowing we never did or could ever do enough to equal the level and extent of love he rightfully deserves and showed us. Yet he knew all of this and did it anyway. He didn't do this out of a need to be loved in return but out of the fullness of love that he is. His love is that great. 

What does this tell us about his love; that he is willing to give more than he could ever receive back? What kind of love is this that compelled Christ to set aside the very love of his Father he had known from all eternity past so others might have it? What does this tell us about the greatness (largeness) and abundance (overflow) of the heart of God and his Son?

Christ didn't do this so he might gain something from it for himself. He already had the Father and the perfect fullness of His love - a love that could ever be matched by us. There was nothing he needed; nothing we could add. He already had it all. In fact, he experienced just the opposite when he set aside the unobstructed communion with his Father - who is infinitely valuable and glorious to Him, so he could make this happen for us.

What he did gain however is the joy of knowing others would know this very same love of his Father that he knew and has always known. He delighted in the anticipation of our delight in His Father, who is also the ultimate delight of Christ's heart.  

The love between He and His Father was so great and delightful that He longed for others to experience it along with Him. He was compelled to share it. He simply did not wish to keep this love of and for the Father all to (or for) Himself. This is what moved Him to step into this veil of tears to restore us to His father.

His longing to share was so great He sacrificed (set aside) his own experience of that love for a time so He could share it with others - that we might share in it together with Him throughout eternity. 

Can you imagine such a love as this!? This was (and is) the love of God in and through Christ for you. This is what is meant when we are told that God so loved the world He gave us His only Son. The Son of His affections from all eternity past.

This is how great His love for us is and the basis for the promise and hope of fully participating in this love without interruption one day for all who trust Jesus in this life.

Do you trust him?

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¹The reality is hardship and pain are not supposed to happen. Though it may be the common experience for us all, it is an aberration, not a part of our original design, nor will it be a part of the future experience for those who are in Christ. 

²As we plug into God and his infinite love for us, our longings are redirected toward him and our need for other love(s) subsides. The more we plug in, the less we feel the need to be affirmed (loved) by others.  Once we are in his presence and fully plugged in, a constant sense of value and love (i.e. glory) in Him will be the ever-increasing part of our existence.  

Love and a future hope... something beyond feelings

The strongest relationships are those that transcend feelings and are based on the value we place on the other. This usually involves feelings for another but not necessarily. 

We may not be getting anything from a particular relationship at any given moment that would stir our feelings -- though pleasant memories of positive treatment or experiences with them from the past can evoke positive emotions. Our relationship may in fact cost us a great deal of time, effort and resources to remain in it, with no indication of immediate benefit or reward. We do it simply because we value them that much. 

A common example would be caring for a parent with Alzheimer's (or some other debilitating condition), who sacrificed for us growing up so we could have the best life possible. We act in love towards them even though it is completely one sided, with no appreciation from them

*at the time. We do it simply because we appreciate them for all they did for us in the past.

*Not unlike our love for our kids is often one sided, with little appreciation for what we do for them at the time.

When someone has proven by past deeds they value us; past deeds so great it impacted us for the rest of our lives. So much so we would never question their love or their value of us even though we see no evidence of their love at the time. We are willing to do things for them with no immediate advantage or benefit to us. In fact we are even willing to suffer loss. We see the past benefit and it's great enough we feel we could never adequately "return the favor."

Now what if this is a person we have not actually met but have only experienced the benefit of their actions from afar. Let's say we get a large some of money from someone who found out we incurred a huge debt beyond our ability to pay it (incurred by our poor choices no less).  A debt so great we couldn't pay it off in two lifetimes, much less one. The rest of our lives are ruined without help. When this person from afar found out, for some unexplicable reason they took care of our debt. 

Now what if we are told by this same person (through letters), that they still have more in store for us to come that is beyond anything we could image, even greater than their past kind deeds on our behalf. Would we choose to believe this promise of future reward based on their past act/proof alone, no matter how little evidence we have of their promise to love/value us at the moment?

What could drive us to believe this promise of future reward when we are not seeing or experiencing any evidence of their love in the moment? Only if what they did for us previously was of such immense value, it is enough to prove their love for us and value of us whether they ever did anything else. In fact their past care was so great, we are convinced (we believe) when promised, that most of what they will do is yet to come i.e. we believe this promise because of what they already did in the past. 

Acting for God's glory (i.e. out of a desire to display his great value) is not acting because we necessarily feel like it or because we see any immediate or significant benefit from it. It can be acting in gratitude for past actions that have infinitely benefitted us. 

It can also be out of anticipation (hope) of experiencing the joy of being with this person who did these past great things knowing they eagerly await being with us. In fact that's why they did them, so we could one day be together. The joy of our anticipation is great because we value them and look forward to being with this person who did so much for us (even though we have never meet them). A future joy we are told, that is enhanced/ deepened by our faithfulness (obedience) to them in this present moment. 

We love God not only for past actions on our behalf but the promise of future reward. A reward that is enhanced by faithfulness to them based on our trust in that love they showed us in the past. The reward of being with this one that values us so infinitely they willingly experienced great loss and harm to themselves so they could be with us in the future and reunite us with their Father, who is the source of their love for us.

This is an anticipated benefit, not a present one. A gain assured to us by the promise of the giver and proven to us by their past acts of giving, not necessarily evidenced by the present experience of present gain/benefit. 

Who has loved us in this way, presently loves us and promises we are yet to see the full expression of that love in the future? Only one person, Jesus. 

When we have nothing else; no other proof of love other than these past actions and future promises, is this is enough? It is if and when we understand how greatly he values (love) us and how much he gave to prove it. Do you believe?

What about others who do not and can not love us in return? How do we treat them? 

We treat them with the same exact love Christ has shown us because he calls us to for his sake. He also promises he will honor us for our sacrificial love because we seek to honor him by loving as he loves. His love is sufficient to move us to love others even when their love in return (or lack of it) is not. 

So we love Christ for what he has done but also for what he will do (i.e. He promises He'll do in eternity). These alone are adequate to move us to faithfulness even if and when we see no immediate or present advantage in doing so.

Pleasing God

The master who said to his servants "...well done, good and faithful servant..." raises the question of when can we and do we please God and how. 

In one sense there is nothing we can do to make ourselves good (lovely/faithful) enough to be accepted by God. We simply are too broken (untrusting and suspicious of God) to ever live a life of complete, uninterrupted love and devotion to him unaided (i.e. on our own) that is equal to (does adequate justice to) who he is (all glorious and worthy of total honor) and what is properly due him (and which he also desires).

We can however - by the power and influence of God - out of his infinite love for us - made accessible by and through his unlimited grace - shed forth in our hearts by his Spirit - live for God's glory. In this way it is possible, and only in this way. This is in response to God and His perfect, infinite love, not the result of self generated effort i.e. willpower.

Are our wills involved? Absolutely! We have a choice and play a vital role in how we honor and please God. But it's a choice of believing (and receiving) or not believing the completeness and fullness of God's perfect love for us.

This is not a choice to will ourselves to "do or be better" e.g. "God, I am really sorry I blew it again. I am determined to do better next time. I'll prove it. Just watch and see." 

Wrong! There is nothing to prove. We all come up short. This is why Christ came!!! If we could honor God according to His glory, Christ's death would not have been necessary.

It is a choice of how much (to what extent) do we believe and receive his love for us. How much do we understand, recognize and accept that "¹it is finished" and there is nothing we will or ever can do to make it more so. It is a choice to receive and accept (bask in and even ²enjoy) his love - even when we blow it. 

And not only so, but the righteousness of Christ is also fully credited to us. If we are in Christ, the ³credit for His perfectly lived life of faithfulness is totally assigned to us - all of it! When God looks at the record of required and perfect faithfulness he sees the deeds of Christ listed as if they were ours. We are now looked upon by God as perfectly righteous/faithful/ moral.

As a result, God's love is now fully fixed (locked in) on us. He and it can never be removed (separated from us) or us from him (it).

Nor can his love be changed or added to, because of what Christ has already done for us. It is not based on what we do (or will do) for him i.e. it is not because we are deserving, but because Christ is. He earned this for us. 

Knowing this is vital to our being empowered to live for him because we can only truly love Him because he first loved us, never the other way around. Our love for (and faithfulness to) him is dependent on his love for us first and our believing and receiving (knowing) this total love. 

We are designed to be respondents to God's love, not initiators of love. God is his own cause (source) of love, we are not. How? Why? Because his love is rooted in the eternal and infinite relationship of love between the Father, Son, and Spirit. In short, we need him, he doesn't need us. 

It is vital we grasp the extent and fullness of God's love in order to be moved to love and desire (have affection for) him in return, over all other desires. The greater and fuller our understanding of this infinite love, the greater and fuller our response and the more honor and glory we bring to him.

And when we do respond (act) in this way, he is well pleased. And he is pleased not only because it brings him great honor (it puts him on greater display so others will be drawn to him) but also because it brings us great joy i.e. he is happy for us because he longs for our best i.e. he loves us. 

Matt 25:14-30

21 His master said to him, ‘Well done, good and faithful servant. You have been faithful over a little; I will set you over much. Enter into the joy of your master.’

• For a further discussion on the difference between willpower and affections click here. 

• For a discussion on the difference between God's objective and subjective love and presence click here

• For a discussion on experiencing and participating in God's love click here.

• For a discussion on his love being based solely on grace click 

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Footnotes:

¹"it" being the payment for and removal of all condemnation for our rebellious distrust; which is the essence of all sinful behavior.

²We enjoy the love itself. Of course, we don't enjoy grieving the one who so faithfully loves us (Jesus). However, when we understand nothing stops his love, not even our unfaithfulness, it moves us in greater love and a stronger desire to not grieve him (he is grieved for our sake, not his own). 

Our unfaithfulness only quenches a fuller experience of this unending love, not the love itself. It effects and diminishes us, not God. He remains the same. 

³Isn't it ironic of how offended we get when others receive credit for what we did?

Self-worth or God's worth?

To ¹value ourselves is better than not valuing ourselves.

Studies have clearly shown we cannot function at our highest potential if we do not see ourselves as having value and bringing value to others.

However to be valued by God is not only better, but what we are designed for. Therefore it is best and what actually works long term.

When we understand and recognize God's value of us, we are able to function as designed, regardless of if or when others value us. Unlike the approval we receive from other finite creatures, God's value of us is infinite (because He is Infinite) and certain (because it is not secured by our performance, but Christ's). The value others have for us and the value we have for ourselves is not; it is fickle and inconsistent at best and therefore inadequate. Long term it is insufficient i.e. it simply doesn't work.

It is fickle and inconsistent because humanity is fickle and inconsistent; both ourselves and others. An infinite need cannot be satisfied by a finite source (us or other created beings).

We were designed to experience infinite value and be the means of bringing God's infinite value to others.

We can only be solid, stable and consistent when and to the extent that we are anchored in God and his value of us -- who alone is solid, stable, and consistent i.e. perfect.

When we are solid, it is only because we are anchored in him, who is solid, stable, and consistent.

The irony is we don't experience our greatest sense of value by focusing on it, ("...self, repeat after me, I am valuable, loved, important" etc. This is not some mantra we must continually tell ourselves) but when we focus on the most valuable i.e. God (only he is infinitely worthy, lovely. most important and deserving of our constant focus and praise etc.)

Why is this? As his image bearers, we were designed to engage and participate in the worth/glory/love of God. We experience our greatest value/meaning/glory/love only when we participate in the most valuable/meaningful/ glorious/loving...God. Anything less does not match up with who we are and were designed to be i.e. it simply does not work.

"The glory of God is man fully alive."- Irenaeus i.e. our experiencing God in all his glory is when we are most alive. When we are most alive in him, we also bring him the greatest Glory.

"Whoever seeks to preserve his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life will keep it." Jesus, Lk 17:33

"For whoever would save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for my sake (i.e. to honor me) will find it." Jesus in Mat 16:24-26   

We will only truly find our lives when we lose our lives...in him i.e., when we stop seeking to find life outside of God, is when we find real, lasting and true life in God i.e. when we experience God Himself. 

For a discussion of our worth in relation to sin click here
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¹I am using value as synonymous with being infinitely loved, worthy, important, significant etc.

the appeal of humility

Why is it that when we see humility in others we find it so appealing? 

No one likes someone who is arrogant and thinks they are "all that." Everyone likes someone who is humble. 

The reason? 

Humble people treat others (us) with dignity and arrogant people do not. 

A truly (*genuinely) humble person is other (you and I) oriented not self-oriented. 

We like it when others treat us as significant/important and don't when they think they are the only one in the room who is.  Nothing is more boring then someone always thinking or talking about themselves.

In truth, we are all significant in the eyes of God. For someone to act as if they alone are significant is not only unappealing (and even repulsive), it's simply not true. 

The bottom line is when someone is all about self, they have no time for others (including you) unless it is to use you or others to advance themselves in some way. We find these kinds of people boring at best and often obnoxious. 

On the other hand, we are drawn to truly humble people. We like them. We like it (even admire it) when someone recognizes they are who they are because of others and are focused on recognizing and/or helping others. True humility is always **other-oriented and always refreshing. 

As Tim Keller likes to say, "humility isn't thinking less of yourself, it's thinking of yourself less"

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*...there is also a false humility which no one likes. False humility is not humility at all but actually self-pity which is also about self only masked as humility. 

**Given this understanding tells us something very significant about God, doesn't it? Ironic when you consider most interpret God's call to recognize his glory as only being self-focused, when in fact God knows the best thing for us, is our recognizing his glory. 

Do you have real life?

To make life all about us assumes there's nothing greater or more important than us. 

But what if there is? What if true life itself is a gift that comes outside of us and all the things we see and experience around us? What if our longing for life is due to the absence of connection to its true source? Wouldn't we be wise to explore this and shortchange ourselves to ignore this possible source?

Some may object and say they have life already. A great one in fact! But how do we know? What if your life could be hundreds, maybe thousands of times richer and fuller...not necessarily circumstantially but in depth of meaning and purpose (most don't even know why they exist, i.e. what their purpose is. Even when they think they find it, something is still lacking). 

Think of those moments (assuming you have had some) when you had the greatest joy, peace, and happiness. What if your life could be like that all the time, without interruption, regardless of your circumstances, and to a much greater degree... even beyond your comprehension? 

Now, what if you could experience this not just for fleeting moments but constantly and with ever-increasing intensity forever, beyond this present existence? Wouldn't that be better than the life you now have with the constant longing for something more, with little or no future hope? Isn't this worth exploring and pursuing?

All the things we find lovely, attractive, beautiful, enjoyable, and breathtaking now is not an illusion or delusion. We experience and are drawn to beauty for a reason. We experience this because we were designed for this; to engage in and enjoy ultimate beauty; the source of beauty itself. 

And we will do so even far more in the next life. It is there we will experience all things in all their complete, original, uncorrupted,  unfettered fullness and glory, with the perfect ability to do so.

Creation will be clearly seen as it truly is. Not as the source of life, but as the overflowing gift(s) of the infinitely beautiful, creative, glorious, and loving God; the source/creator of all things, resulting in our hearts overflowing and spontaneously singing His praises, not to creation but to him for all things he has made and given for our joy and His glory.

Now, what if this life I have described, was offered to you as a gift and not something you would need to gain through your own efforts or could, even if you wanted to or tried. Wouldn't you want to know about it?

This is what is offered to you in Christ.

"...but whoever drinks of the water that I (Jesus) will give him will never be thirsty again. The water that I will give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life." - Jesus Joh 4:14

"But, as it is written, 'What no eye has seen, nor ear heard, nor the heart of man imagined, what God has prepared for those who love him' ”— 1 Cor 2:9

Do you love God i.e. value him above all other persons or things? If you do not, you have not experienced his love for you yet. To experience his love truly is to love God truly. We can do nothing less once we have.

Do you wish to take part? He invites you to come. 

"The Spirit and the Bride say, "Come." And let the one who hears say, "Come." And let the one who is thirsty come; let the one who desires take the water of life without price (you can't earn or buy it)." - The last book in the Bible and closing invitation of John the apostle regarding the revelation of Jesus Christ. Rev 22:17