What Does Glorifying God Really Mean?

I got another article published on theReb! I went on a little journey through the Bible looking at what it means to glorify God. Here’s what I found! If you liked this, remember to like, comment, and follow!😉

“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Cor. 10:31).

When you do something, who’s getting the glory? When people watch your actions and listen to your words, is their admiration directed towards you or to your Heavenly Father?

“All the glory to God.” I speak, read, and pray these words often. Since God has saved us, what can we do but give Him all the glory we receive? I know it is important to give the glory to God, but I recently discovered–I didn’t know how to obey this command.

So I prayed for wisdom and began on a little journey to find out what “giving the glory to God” entails.

BEGINNING WITH DEFINITIONS

I began in the concordance and turned to “glorify”. I was surprised to find fifty-eight references listed. When I scanned over the short excerpts, I found that “glorify” was used in several different ways, but in 1 Corinthians 10:31, the Greek word used is doxan, meaning “opinion (always good in N.T.), hence praise, honor glory.” Using this information as a reference, I turned to Merriam-Webster, which defined glorified as a way “to make glorious by bestowing honor, praise, or admiration.”

GOD BRINGS GLORY TO HIMSELF

When preaching to the worshipers of “The Unknown God” in Athens, the apostle Paul distinguished the One, True God from their many gods. He said, “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” ( Acts 17:24-25, emphasis mine).

God receives glory from His creation, but He cannot truly be lifted any higher by us. What could we add to the One who doesn’t need anything? Ultimately, God is the One bringing glory to Himself. He is the One who made us, saved us, and will resurrect us on the last day–all for His glory.