“Glorify God.”
We hear this phrase everywhere around campus, in our classes, dorms, and prayers. It is a big focus at Cedarville, and rightfully so because God calls us to center our lives on his glory. 1 Corinthians 10:31 says, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” But sometimes I think we get so used to the phrase that we end up forgetting what it really means. So what does “glorifying God” mean?
Glorifying God is not as abstract as it may sound sometimes. We glorify him when we delight in him and honor him as first in our lives. As the Creator, Ruler, King, and Savior, God is already full of glory. Acts 17:24-25 says, “The God who made the world and everything in it, being Lord of heaven and earth, does not live in temples made by man, nor is he served by human hands, as though he needed anything, since he himself gives to all mankind life and breath and everything.” God does not need us to praise him and serve him to achieve a status that he doesn’t have. We were made to recognize who he already is in himself and rest and delight in him.
Practically this looks like worshiping God every moment of our lives. When we read our Bibles, pray, serve, go to church, it is easy to say that we are glorifying God. But glorifying God is not confined to our quiet times, chapels, or prayers. God wants us to do all to his glory. As long as our heart is set on him, whatever we do can be for his honor. According to C.S. Lewis, “Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him.” Having God as the ultimate pursuit and love of our hearts is commended throughout Scripture as well:
“Blessed is the man who walks not in the counsel of the wicked, nor stands in the way of sinners, nor sits in the seat of scoffers; but his delight is in the law of the LORD, and on his law he meditates day and night.” Psalm 1:1-2
“Let them praise his name with dancing, making melody to him with tambourine and lyre!” Psalm 149:3
“Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice.” Philippians 4:4
Honoring God is not a to-do list, it is an exercise of the heart. Sometimes I think we get preoccupied with what we need to be doing to honor God when really it is not about what we are doing at all. A person serving in the church, leading groups on campus, and reading the Word can still have a heart that is not honoring God if they are not delighting in him. Our heart is what God cares about. If we put anything above Him as our ultimate delight, pursuit, or hope, we are not living as we should. Only God deserves top priority in our heart—not our grades, boyfriend or girlfriend, future, friends, or anything else. Only God.
Through Christ, God has blessed us with the power and grace to change our desires. By his spirit, even sinners like us can learn to delight in what He delights in. Because He is always with us, we can honor him at all times. No matter what we are doing, whether it be writing an essay, working out calculus problems, or hanging out at an ALT night, we can keep Him as the focus of our lives. He deserves to be on the throne of all our hearts. Can you say God is on the throne of your heart right now? Psalm 73:25 says, “Whom have I in heaven but you? And there is nothing on earth that I desire besides you.” Let that be our goal.
