You exist, right here, right now, to glorify God. This is your purpose. Nothing will ever be more important than glorifying God in all you think, say, and do. “Glorifying God” might be a familiar phrase, but if it be our job description, we ought to know what it means.
In Hebrew, glory can mean weightiness. Glorifying could be thought of as adding to the weightiness. A King’s glory, in ancient times, would be manifested in the weight of his gold, his feasting board, his own physical stature. A weak & anemic king wouldn’t be glorious, because he couldn’t very well “throw his weight around.” But a hearty King–with great wealth, mighty armies, and bright countenance–would strike fear in his foes, and gather his admirers to follow him to conquest.
Now, since you are made to glorify God, how can you add anything to His infinite “weightiness”? It’s like asking whether a proton of dust adds to the weight of the earth. God, being infinite, is in no need of increasing His glory, for He is already all glorious. So, what does it mean to glorify God?
It means, in short, that small though you are, you are made by the loving hand of God & you must live accordingly. His glory has been stamped on all He made. To strive against Him, which is what our vanity & pride really is, is to descend into the eternal unraveling that is hell.
He made you, so this requires you to worship Him. He redeemed you from your sin, so this compels you to repent and forsake your sin and seek after living righteously according to His Word. To glorify God is to live, truly live. It is living as a free creature of the sovereign God, redeemed by the blood of Christ, and filled with the Holy Spirit.
In our sinful imagination we have sought out ways to glorify ourselves, to deem ourselves our own creator and sustainer. This is the central wickedness of man’s condition, that though we know that there is a God, we don’t live accordingly. The sins we cherish are defiant attempts to pull God Almighty off the throne of heaven, and this is the utter madness of our sin. To come out of the madness means we must repent for rebelling against living in the light of His glory, the glory with which He made us. Our Father made us to glorify Himself, to reflect Him as creatures made in His image. Our sins, big and small, are all attempts to unmake ourselves in defiance of the great gift of being which He has given to us. This is why we must humble ourselves and confess our sins, that we might be raised up into His glory, the glory which He intended for us when He made us & redeemed us.
As is often the case, it isn’t whether you will glorify someone or something. Rather, you will glorify something. Whose glory will it be? God’s or something inferior. The only way to be truly human is to humble yourself and acknowledge Your Creator & Redeemer, and so glorify Him.
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