Soli Deo Gloria

Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God (1 Cor. 10:31)

Winters grow cold. Summers get hot. We drudge on through our days, looking our own way. Death stands at our doorsteps, knocking gently to take ones we know away. Sickness constantly grabs hold of us. Yet life still abounds around and before us. Health becomes to us a treasure tenderly grasped. Amusement fills our minds to keep us from contemplating the loss which life and death both bring. We live. We breath. We die. But what for? "To what end?" I ask you.

Reader, we often live our lives so that others may know us for whatever vapor of time we have in this world. Relationships, kingdoms, and companies are all built to exalt one's self. Yet when loved ones die, and nations crumble, and jobs are lost, tell me, what does it all gain for you? The temporary, that is for sure. But what about the eternal?

Any man can live for himself. Any woman can make herself her own goddess. All mankind can worship itself. But it will not profit any man to gain the whole world and lose his soul.

My friend, we are not made for our own glory. Nor are we saved for our own self-exaltation. Rather, because we are image-bearers and sons of God, we live to glorify God in our mortal flesh. All of life must be lived for God's glory alone.

Oh, how I wish that this reality would be true for so many professing Christians who say they trust in the living God yet live for themselves. They eat, drink, and be merry for themselves and their own pleasure. Like the rich man in Luke 12, they simply live as fools for the fleeting pleasures of this world yet disregard the everlasting joys of seeking God's glory.

Hear the apostle Paul's exhortation in 1 Corinthians 10:31: "whether therefore you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God."

All of life, according to the apostle, ought to be lived for God's glory. A friend of mine once questioned the legitimacy of this command. "Surely, not everything can be done for God's glory," he said. "Yet that is what Scripture mandates," I replied. Everything must be said and done "in the name of the Lord Jesus" (Col. 3:17).

All of life. From the biggest hurdles to the small bumps. From the birthday wishes to the graveside eulogies. All things must be done and said for God's glory. Indeed, we cannot do anything for God's glory without the strength of the Holy Spirit, for without him we would only live for ourselves (Eph. 2:1-2). But because we are in Christ, we can love God and bring Him glory with all of our being.

If a man cannot bring glory to God in what he does, whether it be sin or not, let him refrain from that work lest he damn his own conscience before the throne. For it was the apostle Paul that said, "everything that is not from faith is sin" (Rom. 14:23). James also makes the statement that "he who knows what is good, and does it not, to him it is sin" (Js. 4:17). Let every believer act, speak, and think, in faith and to the glory of God. And let it be at the end of his road, that the Christian lifts up his or her eyes and says "Soli Deo Gloria," that means, "to the Glory of God alone."