In this final lesson we will look into what kind of life glorifies God. Basically we are going to look at how the previous lessons will help you live a life that glorifies the Father. First off we need to be a Christian. We need to be in Christ and Christ in us. In Colossians 1:21 we see that before Christ we were estranged and alienated from God and we were hostile towards Him. To live a life that glorifies God we must admit we were sinners and accept Christ’s work on the cross. After we accept we must live d.u.I., letting the Holy Spirit have His way with us.
If our life is to glorify God we cannot live in false guilt. We must fully understand the totality of forgiveness. Also we cannot abuse that forgiveness by living any way we choose. Remember Jesus said “if you love Me you will keep My commands”. A life that glorifies God strives to be more Christ like everyday and when we fall and fail, we promptly admit it, confess, and stand back up to fight another day.
A life that glorifies God is lived by one who knows that God loves him. If you continually doubt that love or don’t “feel” it, you certainly won’t be glorifying God. John 15:13 states “Greater love has no one than this, that one lay down his life for his friends”. Jesus has done just that to show his love for us, therefore we need to follow Him with 100% commitment to show our thankfulness for what He has done.
“AND YOU SHALL LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART, AND WITH ALL YOUR SOUL, AND WITH ALL YOUR MIND, AND WITH ALL YOUR STRENGTH” “YOU SHALL LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOR AS YOURSELF”. “There is no other commandment greater than these”. Simply stated to live a life that glorifies God we must live out these verses (Mark 12:30-31). We must show this love for God and others in everything we do. Unbelievers can quickly see when we fail at these two commandments.
You glorify God through a life of service. Matthew 6:24 states “No one can serve two masters; for either he will hate the one and love the other, or he will stand by and be devoted to the one and despise and be against the other. You cannot serve God and mammon (deceitful riches, money, possessions, or whatever is trusted in)”. All of our service has to be Holy Spirit inspired, that is why staying totally connected through prayer, Bible study, fellowship, and the Lord’s Supper are so important. We have to be sure that we are serving Him and Him alone in all we do.
To live a life that glorifies God we must bear good fruit (Matthew 7:18 A good (healthy) tree cannot bear bad (worthless) fruit, nor can a bad (diseased) tree bear excellent fruit [worthy of admiration]). We must continually monitor our actions to see if the fruit we are bearing is consistent with Galatians 5:22-23 (love, joy (gladness), peace, patience (an even temper, forbearance), kindness, goodness (benevolence), faithfulness, gentleness (meekness, humility), self-control (self-restraint, continence). Our actions speak much louder than our words.
A powerful walk glorifies God. 2 Timothy 1:7 reads “For God did not give us a spirit of timidity (of cowardice, of craven and cringing and fawning fear), but [He has given us a spirit] of power and of love and of calm and well-balanced mind and discipline and self-control. In the book of Acts the word power is mentioned 16 times and is almost always tied to the Holy Spirit or the name of Jesus. There is power in the name of Jesus. We must speak the name of Jesus with authority from the Holy Spirit.
An abundant life glorifies God. Again, this does not always mean money or possessions. It means living the full life that God desires for you. If you haven’t been taken home yet, He has work for you here. If you do not love what you do, more than likely you are not doing what He wants you to do. He has placed within you a passion for “something” and when you find that “something”, then you will be living the abundant life. To get to that point it takes much prayer (as you pray God will lead you to ask for things you didn’t even know you wanted but are for your preparation), Bible study (the more you know His word the more you know Him and the better you will hear Him), fellowship (He often speaks through others and puts others in your path to point you on your way), and the Lord’s Supper (that cleansing felling keeps you focused on Him and not yourself). No matter what you do in your Christian walk you cannot get away from Acts 2:42 (prayer, Bible study, fellowship, and Lord’s Supper)!
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