Over and over in the Old Testament, you can see statements made by God through His prophets like these...
"I will display My glory among the nations..." or "I will make My Name known..." or even, "I will not share my glory with another..."
It seems on the surface rather self-centered that our God's primary driving force is to make His Name known to all. We as followers of Christ are taught and value servant leadership. "The Son of Man did not come to be served but rather to serve..." And all of us have heard that, "...pride goes before destruction." So, why is our God so self-centered?
Here's the bottom line (to use a great western economics metaphor):
Whose glory would God promote if not His own? Who is there worthy other than He? Who is the One who created all, sustains all, moves and breathes in all? Or, even simpler, whose story is this world and all of life (and even eternity) about?
This life, everything we have, are or do, is really God's story, not ours. We somehow come to the self-delusion that the universe revolves around us, don't we? It is easy to fall into the trap of asking, "why did this happen to me?" or "why am I suffering" or worse. Things in our lives go so well that we pass the day or even days without a thought of the One who it is really all about.
God is a self-promoter. There is no one other worthy of promoting. There is no one or ones worthy of receiving our praise and honor other than God Himself. When we give glory, consciously or subconsciously, to anyone or anything else, we pervert and devalue the sole worthiness of God Himself. And to be honest, this is not to God's detriment as much as it is to our own.
God's plan is to make His Name known to all. In the end, His Name will be exalted, praised and worshipped above all. For one day, every knee shall bow and tongue confess. And on that day, every people, tongue, tribe and nation will be gathered around God's throne praising and honoring none other than Him.
So, God is self-centered. He calls us to be God focused and God-centered. Furthermore, all of history is moving towards this great and mighty worship of God when one day, He will receive His full glory.
I want to be a part of that, don't you?
"I will display My glory among the nations..." or "I will make My Name known..." or even, "I will not share my glory with another..."
It seems on the surface rather self-centered that our God's primary driving force is to make His Name known to all. We as followers of Christ are taught and value servant leadership. "The Son of Man did not come to be served but rather to serve..." And all of us have heard that, "...pride goes before destruction." So, why is our God so self-centered?
Here's the bottom line (to use a great western economics metaphor):
Whose glory would God promote if not His own? Who is there worthy other than He? Who is the One who created all, sustains all, moves and breathes in all? Or, even simpler, whose story is this world and all of life (and even eternity) about?
This life, everything we have, are or do, is really God's story, not ours. We somehow come to the self-delusion that the universe revolves around us, don't we? It is easy to fall into the trap of asking, "why did this happen to me?" or "why am I suffering" or worse. Things in our lives go so well that we pass the day or even days without a thought of the One who it is really all about.
God is a self-promoter. There is no one other worthy of promoting. There is no one or ones worthy of receiving our praise and honor other than God Himself. When we give glory, consciously or subconsciously, to anyone or anything else, we pervert and devalue the sole worthiness of God Himself. And to be honest, this is not to God's detriment as much as it is to our own.
God's plan is to make His Name known to all. In the end, His Name will be exalted, praised and worshipped above all. For one day, every knee shall bow and tongue confess. And on that day, every people, tongue, tribe and nation will be gathered around God's throne praising and honoring none other than Him.
So, God is self-centered. He calls us to be God focused and God-centered. Furthermore, all of history is moving towards this great and mighty worship of God when one day, He will receive His full glory.
I want to be a part of that, don't you?
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