3 Principles in Living for the Glory of God
By Michael Kelley
The Westminster Shorter Catechism, in the very first lines, answers the question of the meaning of human life like this:
“Man’s chief end is to glory God and enjoy Him forever.”
The Hebrew word for glory is kavod, and it literally means “heavy.” So when we glorify someone or something, we give it weight. Recognition. Importance. Honor. And this is what life is all about. Indeed, as human beings this is why we were created:
“I will say to the north, ‘Give them up!’
and to the south, ‘Do not hold them back.’
Bring my sons from afar
and my daughters from the ends of the earth—
everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory,
whom I formed and made” (Is. 43:6-7).
We were created for God’s glory, and our lives are meant to be spent glorifying Him. In fact, you might argue that at least one of the roots of all sin is a failure to do just that. We fail to recognize, or give weight, to God and instead give weight to other things. We prize creation or relationships or money or ourselves - and in so doing, we are failing to live up to the very reason why we were created.
But even if we know the reason we are here, and even if we desire to glorify God, that leaves us with another question: Just how do we do that? And here is where Paul helps us with the answer in his letter to the Corinthian church.
Now a little context will help us here. Among the many issues in the Corinthian church was an issue over meat. Corinth was a pagan city, and as such, meat was regularly sacrificed to idols. That meat was available in the marketplace and was also often served on the tables of the Corinthians. The question at hand for these new Christians was whether or not they should eat meat that had been used for this purpose.
In response, Paul let the Corinthians know that there was a larger issue at play here than whether or not they should eat the meat. As Christians, the Corinthians should be more concerned about their fellow Christians - if eating the meat causes one of their brothers to stumble, then they should joyfully abstain. This is the context of 1 Corinthians 10:31:
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
That leads us to three very simple principles when it comes to glorifying God in our own lives:
Principle 1: Some things can’t be done for the glory of God.
The issue in Corinth was about eating or not eating certain kinds of meat. It was not, for example, about robbing banks. Paul would not have said, “So whether you steal or not, do it all for the glory of God,” and the reason is simple - you can’t rob a bank for the glory of God.
Neither can you lie. Or cheat. Or commit adultery. Or any number of other things. So as simple as it sounds, the first principle for us is to recognize that not everything can be done to the glory of God.
Principle 2: Many things can be done for the glory of God.
What was Paul saying in this verse? To paraphrase, you can eat the meat. Or you can not eat the meat. But whatever you do, just do it to the glory of God. The Corinthians had a great deal of freedom, as do we, about the things we do. But whatever we choose to do with our time and resources, let’s make sure we do it for God’s glory.
Now most of these choices we make are about ordinary, everyday things. Things like eating and drinking. But the principle is that even in the most common areas of life we can do things to the glory of God. Which leads to the third principle…
Principle 3: Nothing (from our perspective) is accidentally done for the glory of God.
In these things we do, we can make the choice about the manner and means in which we do them. While it’s true that God will eventually receive glory even in those areas of life and the world in which no one is consciously aware of Him, in our own lives, we aren’t going to accidentally do something for God’s glory.
We have to choose to do so. We have to be conscious of God as the Creator and Owner of all things. We have to operate in a spirit of humility and gratitude. We have to move through life with great integrity and honesty always aware of the posture in which we are operating.
When we do that, we are doing even the most common things to the glory of God.
Michael Kelley is a husband, father of three, author, and speaker from Nashville, TN. His latest book is a year-long family devotional guide called The Whole Story for the Whole Family. Find his personal blog at michaelkelley.co.