Redeeming God's Glory

I have been inspired by a teaching that I was listening to on my Ipod. This teaching was by Mark Driscoll, think what you will. He was discussing, "Redeeming God's Glory." As he spoke, my heart connected with his message. The main take away I had from listening was that God wants us to be humble people that promote his glory. Too often in life, we are people that are too self promoting or false humble. I often fall guilty to the last category. Yet, I remember quiting Facebook because I felt like I was spending too much time promoting myself.

We live in a world where we need to prove our worth. We need to shout from the rooftops that we are good enough and even better than the next guy. But, friends, that is not how it works in God's kingdom. We are on the same playing field. Whether we feel we need to get glory for our accomplishments, or just prove we are more righteous than the next guy, we are truly in the wrong. Our lives have been given to us so that we may show others who God is. If we are wasting it on a marketing campagin of our talents, we miss out on the blessing intended for us. I am not my talents. Maybe I would be if I didn't love Jesus, but because I do, I am now different. My life is lived with the love of Jesus for those around me. Therefore, there is no striving to be liked or deemed worthy. This is already done for me. What a hard thing to grasp in a world that demands applause.

I read Romans 5 today. What a great follow up on this teaching! My favorite line was, "we hope in the glory of God." What does that mean to you? To me it does not mean that I hope in my abilities, my gorgeous looks :), my friends, my family. No, it means that I have faith that someday whether here or in heaven God is going to get appreciation for all he has done. So, when I go to work, I am not seeking to be noticed by my boss for how great I work. But, rather, I am loving my boss, and helping him with projects that he cannot complete on his own. I am spending time with him to learn about his life and offer compassion for his issues. Our lives are not to be centered on us. Rather, they are to be centered on the love God has given us to give to others. Let's not waste what love God has given to us. Let's spend more time focusing on getting God the glory than trying to achieve glory for ourselves. I tell you there is no glory we can get that is worth wasting the love God has given to us to share with others.