Worshiping God pleases His heart. In church on Sundays, we give Him thanks and praise, singing worship songs to Him. Many of us worship on a daily basis listening to Christian music and offering prayers of thanksgiving along with our supplications (prayer requests). Praise and thanksgiving to God for who He is and what He has done is what we think of when we worship. We sing about God’s glory.
What is the glory of God? When Moses came down from the mountain, his face shone with the glory of God. The glory of the Lord followed the Israelites on their journey into the promised land as a pillar of fire by night and a cloud by day. When Solomon dedicated the temple, the glory of the Lord filled the temple with smoke.
King David, writer of many psalms made a plea to the people of Israel to ascribe glory to the Lord. 1 Chronicles 16, And in Psalm 29, we see David glorifying God with his poetic words. Almost all of David’s prayers and psalms glorify God for who He is and what He has done. Through these verses, we get the sense that the glory of God is the majestic beauty and splendor of His creation, and we glorify Him for it by giving Him awesome honor and praise.
Glorifying God
We were created in the image of God to glorify him. Does this mean we were created just to tell Him how wonderful He is? While it is important to glorify God with our words, without proper intent, it is not really glorifying Him. We remember that David was a man after God’s own heart. The intentions of David’s heart pleased God. How about you, are you a man or woman after God’s heart? Do you glorify God with more than mere words? Jesus said, “Out of the abundance of the heart, the mouth speaks.”(Matthew 12:34b)
Are you good and kind, full of love and mercy for others? Are you a peaceable person who displays self control, slow to anger and slow to speak, patient in all things, as gentle as a lamb, being faithful to wait and trust God in all things? Is the joy of the Lord apparent not only on your countenance, but also in your heart and mind?
Wow, those are heavy questions. We can look at David’s life and see that though he was called a man after God’s own heart, he wasn’t all these things all the time. The apostle Paul said “For all men have sinned and fall short of the glory of God.” (Romans 3:23)
The Sacrificial System
King David had the sacrificial system set up by Moses that kept him reconciled to God, however temporary it was. The five basic sacrifices (or offerings) were burnt offerings, peace offerings, grain offerings, sin offerings and guilt offerings. According to John Piper in Desiring God, each of these had a specific purpose. The burnt offerings, peace offerings and grain offerings were to celebrate communion with God in right relationship with Him. The sin and guilt offerings were intended to repair the breaches in the system.
So whenever someone sinned, they would bring their offering to the priests, whose job it was to prepare it and present it to the Lord on behalf of the presenter, restoring the person to right relationship with God. It was an ongoing process, and no doubt King David was grateful for it. He was, after all, a man after God’s own heart. Gratitude is important to God.
The symbolism in these sacrifices in which animals, grain, wine and oil were offered point to Jesus and the Holy Spirit. Jesus is the “Lamb of God” who takes away the sin of the world, the “Bread of Life”, the “Prince of Peace”, our “Redeemer”. The oil is symbolic of the anointing, healing, the oil of joy and so much more. Today, the Old Testament sacrificial system is no longer in effect because Jesus was the final sacrifice for us, should we choose to accept Him as our Lord and Savior.
When we take Holy Communion, we remember Jesus breaking bread with his apostles at the last supper. He said the bread was symbolic of his body (bread is made from grain and oil) and the wine, symbolic of his blood poured out for us for the forgiveness of sin. In addition to remembering this, we are instructed by Paul in the book of Romans to offer ourselves as living sacrifices.
I appeal to you therefore, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship. (Romans 12:1)
When we do this, we walk in communion with God. His glory is displayed in those who call themselves Christians because the Holy Spirit dwells within, helping them maintain peace with God. They begin to produce fruits of goodness, kindness, gentleness, love, patience, self control, faithfulness to God and the fullness of joy resulting from all of that. (Galatians 5:22) They become men and women after God’s own heart as their hearts become full of desire for the things of God.
We glorify God in awe and wonder with thanks and praise for who He is and what He has done. But also by imitating His goodness and holiness, living our life the way Jesus lived His. Jesus sacrificed His life for us once and for all, defeated death and the grave, so we can too when that time comes. The least we can do in gratitude for what He has done for us is sacrifice our worldly desires, as the Holy Spirit makes us into Holy men and women after God’s own heart. We become set apart for God.
People in the world idolize their heroes. Back in the day, people were crazy about Michael Jordan. They paid big bucks buying into his brand of sneakers, clothing and other miscellaneous merchandise. Kids desired to be like him when they grew up. Now, we know there is no Michael Jordan spirit that dwells within to help one be like him. It’s an empty, unrealistic desire for most.
But, we are not people of this world. Though we live in it, we are not of it. We are people of heaven living on earth, and in this realm, all things are possible with God. He freely gives His Holy Spirit to all who desire that. He is your Helper, your Advocate and your Counselor who helps you imitate Jesus in every way so you can glorify God with your words and your actions. And when you mess up, all you have to do is pray.
Prayer
Father God, if I have not glorified you with my life lately, I am sorry. Thank you for Jesus’ sacrifice on my behalf. Thank you Jesus that when I mess up, all the Father sees is Your righteousness covering me. Come Holy Spirit, rise up within me and sit on the throne of my life. Let all my thoughts, words and deeds please You Lord, in Jesus’ name I pray. Amen!
And just like that you are once again restored back into relationship with God. You are redeemed! As I finished this blog, two Christian songs came on the radio consecutively. The first song “To God be the Glory” by “We are Messengers” tells of God’s goodness and love for us no matter what; it says: “You love me at my best, you love me in my mess”. The other song by “For King and Country” says “Let my life be the proof of Your love”. There are no coincidences with God. To me, those songs confirmed this writing with the why and how we glorify Him. Let us do so being set apart, giving Him all the glory with praise and thanksgiving, honoring Him with our life.
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