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Glorifying God


In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds
and glorify your Father in heaven. (Matthew 5:15)
 

    Yesterday, I wrote about the first half of this verse; about being invisible so that people can see our good works.... That thought continued. What sort of good works? What sort of glorification of God? We tend to think of good works as involving feeding the hungry, giving shelter to the homeless, caring for the widows, orphans and prisoners or whoever happens to fall off the bottom of the ladder of our social hierarchy. You know, the sort of things that when we do them, others applaud or pat us on the back and say, "You're such a good, kind person." And they are good works that need to be done, and it's nice that they notice that God has blessed you with that task and that they approve. They are the things for which we might hear "God bless you."
     Then there are other things. You refuse to worship the gods of the age. You refuse to bow to the dictates of society. You do not join others in their crimes. You speak the truth that you believe.  For any of these things, you might hear "God damn you." They might even damn God. They might decide that He cannot and does not exist and therefore does not need to be considered. Through the centuries, there have always been those who either sought to destroy Christianity or who loudly and vehemently predicted its demise.
        Here's the question that came to mind. Doesn't God also receive glory from those who make His destruction or rejection the focus of their lives? How many lesser deities earn the level of wrath that God does from them? Doesn't their dedication of so much time, effort and energy be a way of glorifying? Could it be that the sort of works for which Christians are damned are still good works and that those who see them and rage are still glorifying God even though they don't know it? Consider Exodus 14:18:

"The Egyptians will know that I am the Lord
when I gain glory through Pharaoh, his chariots and his horsemen.”

     This doesn't give us freedom to do evil that good may come. It gives us freedom to do good that is unpopular, to obey God when others don't approve.

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