Seeking Glory from the Father
“If you find yourself constantly trying to prove your worth to someone, you have already forgotten your value.” – Unknown
We live in a society that is seeking glory from every direction. We want our value to come from our education, wealth, fame, families, house, job, social following, you name it we’re seeking it. I don’t know about you but that has left me, let down.
We are faced with the dilemma of those things going away or not proving reliable.
I want my value to come in something more secure, more constant, and more absolute and I know you do, too!
We are going to look closely at the life of Jesus because He sought His glory from one place and that one place was what truly satisfied Him. As we look at His ministry we will see how He was seeking Glory from God and was seeking to glorify Him in all that He did.
Believe in yourself? “Think it and you can achieve it”. It’s a mantra that we are taught from a young age. Your mind is so powerful that you can actually make things exist, maybe even if they don’t, or so we’re told. Although your mind is powerful in changing your perception in life, it is not always powerful in changing your reality. In fact, it would be contrary to popular culture to think in opposition to this thinking.
While that mantra sounds legitimate, as believers in Christ Jesus, it is contrary to Biblical truth and should contradict our own Biblical worldview.
Live to Bring the Father Glory
While Jesus was working out His earthly ministry, He constantly spoke with people who were finding their value from what others thought of them. What other’s thought of them was based on their position, their education, their wealth, even their own self-glorification.
Sound Familiar?
Jesus spoke directly to this kind of thinking and these men on more than one occasion.
For they loved praise from men more than praise from God. John 12:43
They didn’t quite get Jesus. His mission seemed so unlike theirs.
Do you feel that same pressure in your life today?
Maybe now you know people, lots of people that just don’t quite get you. You are working and serving someone outside of yourself. You have laid down your own desires and the desires of this world for a future place (1 John 2:17).
Does your kingdom perspective have you feeling out of the norm?
I do not seek My own glory. There is One who seeks it, and He is the Judge.
Jesus knew that God was going to glorify Him through His death and resurrection on the cross. What I love about His ministry was He was always mission minded. His focus was on His Father’s will and bringing glory to His Father.
Jesus’ contradictory message then is still going against the “norm” of our day. It leaves us feeling out of place. But Jesus’ response gives us comfort and hope.
And though I have no wish to glorify myself, God is going to glorify me. He is the true judge. John 8:50 (NLT)
The great news is we are daily being sanctified through Christ. Meaning, He is making us more like Him every day. Our hope rest in knowing one day we are going to meet Him face-to-face and He is going to give us our glorious redeemed bodies. (Philippians 3:21)
Glory from God!
Jesus sought glory from His Father. So often, we find ourselves seeking glory from things that are temporary.
If you have suffered any loss in your life, you know first hand that things, people, and even ourselves will falter.
They go away and we are left feeling empty. Even with all the things that we can amass, we are still left with a hole in our hearts the size of a cross. Share on X
We can continue to search in this life for glory, but in the end, Glory can only come from God!
Our Worth and Value
Because of Jesus, the One who has received glory by finishing the work of His Father on the cross (John 17:4), you are offered the opportunity to be glorified through Him.
Although, we often feel the pressure to receive our value from others or even from our own accolades, our value is in whose we are and not who others say we are. Share on XWe have hope because our worth and value are not given to us by other people.
But now, this is what the LORD says– he who created you, Jacob, he who formed you, Israel: “Do not fear, for I have redeemed you; I have summoned you by name; you are mine. Isaiah 43:1 (NIV)
For I am the LORD your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior; I give Egypt for your ransom, Cush, and Seba in your stead. Since you are precious and honored in my sight, and because I love you, I will give people in exchange for you, nations in exchange for your life. Isaiah 43:3-4 (NIV)
For such a long time, I went away from the Lord. The truth is there were times, I was in a dead sprint in the opposite direction.
Why?
Because I didn’t realize who I was. More importantly, I didn’t realize who Jesus was. He is the Lord God Almighty and when He has called you, He has called you by name. You are His, and just as He was in hot pursuit of me in my life, He is in hot pursuit of you.
Because of all the wonderful things you have done? Sorry to say, No!
It is better than that. We are pursued by the creator of life because we are precious to Him. We are honored in His sight. Wow!
I hope you got that, dear friend! You are precious to the one who gives you the breath in your lungs. He will honor you, He will redeem you and one day, He will glorify you because He loves YOU! You are valuable to Christ and that makes you valuable! Share on X
Whatever You Do, Do It All for the Glory of God
Are you ready to make a change? Ready to let God determine your worth and value? Are you wondering where to start?
Giving God His glory because it is where all glory is due. Living to bring glory to God will, in turn, one day bring you glory.
So you might be asking yourself, how am I to bring glory to God?
Great Question!
The answer is simple and complex but Paul is pretty clear in his letter to the church. It applies today as much as it did then.
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 1 Corinthians 10:31 (NIV)
This is pretty cut and dry. As you journey, keep this reminder at your forefront.
Whatever you do, do it for the glory of God!
Personal Reflections:
- How often do you catch yourself seeking to be glorified by the people around you?
- Do you often find yourself wondering if anyone noticed you or your circumstance?
- Are you seeking your value in things or from people?
- Do you know that the words God wrote in His word are just as relevant today as they were thousands of years ago?
- Have you taken the words that God has given you as truth to become your own when it comes to who you are and what your worth is compared to what you tell yourself or hear others tell you?
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It amazes me the number of “mantras” I easily accept. So many of them are self-reliance, self-help, self-assured. And they aren’t all bad, but it’s like baking cookies and forgetting a key ingredient. There are pieces that are there that are good, but without the truth they are nothing.
That is such a good analogy. Without the key ingredients to a cookie, they fall flat, they aren’t even really cookies. We eventually will fall flat as well. We will be let down by what this world has to offer. Without the truth that God gives us, we are left hopeless. He created us to need Him. He is the key ingredient to life.
We see, too often, people, even Christians, searching in all the wrong places and eventually, they feel hopeless. Christ is THE hope through it all.
Christ gives us hope in a tough world. Thanks for joining us today, Rebecca!
So amazing that even in the mundane acts of eating and drinking we are able to bring glory to God, and how incredible that he gives us that privilege!
It is pretty incredible that He allows us to bring glory to Him. In all things, we can point to Christ or point to ourselves. I am also glad that He just doesn’t leave us here to figure it out on our own accord and gives us a helper in the Holy Spirit. I know where I would be without Him. I am just glad that He allows us to come into that kind of relationship with Himself. Blessings, dear friend!
This is wonderful! I love how you point out that the concept of our minds being the most powerful aspect of our lives and how we should seek to glorify ourselves is so contrary to what Jesus teaches. I find myself really frustrated with the self-love concept that is going around so vigorously right now. Yes, we have beautiful value in Christ, but our first thought should be to glorify God and allow Him to glorify us as He sees fit. Great post!
Thanks for the encouraging words, Emily. We are told to point to ourselves. Wouldn’t that be exactly what Satan would ultimately use against us, our own self-pride? The very thing that keeps us from Christ, from being readily used by Christ, and being effective in bringing Him Glory, we are readily handed over as the best thing for us.
We were made for worship. Not of ourselves but for our Creator. It can easily be slipped in as the norm. How often do we allow our pride, our self-worth, our self-love, our families, our money, our jobs, and more become bigger than they ought to? We have to take care of those things. We have to take care of ourselves. All these things can be good things in themselves but when we allow them to take the place of true worship they are not in their proper place.
God alone is worthy of our worship and praise! And He will bring us glory! Thanks for pointing to Him, friend!
Thank you for sharing this today. In this culture we live in, it is so easy to get pulled into that trap of people-pleasing and self-seeking, sometimes before we even realize it. But I am so grateful for the conviction of the Holy Spirit to lift our eyes back to the Lord, where all of our Glory belongs. He is continuing to bring that home to me. Blessings to you!
This first quote grabbed me: “If you find yourself constantly trying to prove your worth to someone, you have already forgotten your value.” Thanks for sharing, Jaime!