Some circumstances just don’t seem glorious. Our health is elusive, our work is mundane, and our suffering is relentless. Pastor Lutzer describes four ways God can be glorified in every circumstance of our lives. No matter what comes each day, we can wake up focused on our chief purpose in life: the glory of God.
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Transcript: Welcome to “5 Minutes with Pastor Lutzer.” As I’ve been going through this series, I’ve been emphasizing the need for all of us to pray every single morning before we get out of bed, “Oh God, glorify Yourself in my life today at my expense.” I’ve discovered that when I pray that, life goes better but also it clarifies my values. As a matter of fact, it helps me to understand and keep in perspective what my life should be all about.
In these brief moments together I’m going to emphasize the glory of God in our lifestyle. There are many passages of scripture that we could use to emphasize this but I have in mind 1 Corinthians 10:31—”So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” That’s the key and I wish we had time to also turn to Colossians 3:22, where it even says that slaves should obey their masters and to know that they should do so not with eye-service but as service to Christ.
Slavery, of course, is horrible. We all know that but in those days slavery was a part of the economy. It had to be accepted as a way of life because there were no other options. Be that as it may, when the Bible talks about us living for the glory of God, it can even apply to slavery. It can imply—I should say—it can apply to those who are suffering injustice, because ultimately we must recognize that God is to be glorified in our lives, no matter what.
I have some suggestions for all of us. Number one, we should accept what is happening to us as from God and not from man. Some of you are in difficult situations because you’re experiencing injustice, and if you can overcome that injustice, if there is a way out, take it, but in many instances justice goes unanswered in our world. And we have to live with the hand that we have been dealt, so to speak. Would you accept that from God’s hand? Even those of you who are in difficult marriages, difficult situations in the workforce, you have a boss that you can never please, there is favoritism in the office. Can you accept your role and say, “I’m taking this from the hand of God and not the hand of man”? If you can say that and pray that, you are bringing glory to God. That’s what the text says in Colossians.
Furthermore, never substitute a lesser glory for the greater glory. By that I mean, it’s easy for us to substitute other kinds of glory, other kinds of pleasures, and it’s easy for us to put them in the place of the glory of God. Let’s never do that, by God’s grace and by God’s power.
And then remember this, who you are is much more important, much more important, than what you accomplish in life. All of us want to accomplish. All of us want to advance ourselves, and that may be necessary, and it may even be good but, ultimately, the issue is: Is God glorified? God is glorified even when we bear fruit in a desert.
You remember Jesus in the 15th chapter of the Book of John, He said this to the disciples, He said, “Herein is my Father glorified, that you bear much fruit.” What is the fruit of the Spirit? Well, you and I know it—love, joy, peace, longsuffering—all of the character qualities that are developed in The Crucible of Life, with all of its disappointments, its sorrows, its injustices. Even there my brothers and sisters you and I can bring glory to God.
I certainly hope that you join us next time because it’s going to be the last in this series on “Living For the Glory of God” and as I frequently say make sure that you subscribe, follow, and share but as for today, remember, it’s all about God’s glory. So you just go with God.