Big Questions - Day 2

Question #2:

How do you stay focused on God's glory?

My goodness… this one could easily fill a book. Actually, now that I think of it, John Piper has written a great book on this subject called “Desiring God”… I highly encourage you to read it and plod through it. It’s a great read, but it is thick and deep – so pack a lunch and some Advil.

In a nutshell, we stay focused on God’s glory by understanding who he is in relation to us – in other words, we’ve got to have the right perspective. God is uncreated; we are created. God is infinite, omniscient, and holy; we are finite, limited in our thinking, and sinful. So, knowing that God is much grander than we will ever be means that we honor him as the most glorious being that ever will be.

Now, that’s not to say that I don’t get sidetracked and follow after less glorious things (the ‘created things’ from Romans 1) and spend my time and affections following after things that don’t deserve what only God deserves. Staying on track, then, takes diligence, discipline, and God’s grace. The Christian life isn’t always peachy – it’s tough being a sinner, dealing with sinfulness and other sinners. But, if we keep our eyes on heaven and have an eternal perspective (not a temporal earthly one), then we will stay devoted to prayer, knowing and studying Scripure, and following what God has willed for our lives. The Holy Spirit is instrumental in this, as Jesus calls him the ‘helper’ (see John 14:16, 14:26, 15:26, 16:7; Romans 8:15, 23, 26-30). Also, the community of believers is a huge help that God has given us a bunch of folks to run with, to live with, to worship with, to encourage us, to challenge us, to help teach and lead us, and to battle in the trenches with us.

The last thing that I can say to you on this is to keep the faith and study the parable of the talents from Matthew 25. The men who were entrusted with the talents (large units of money back then) were told to spend them wisely for their master’s glory. The ones who were faithful and wise stewards were praised, given more, and allowed into their master’s joy (heaven). But the one who was not diligent and neglected what his master entrusted him with was cast into the darkness (hell). Stay faithful, not out of fear of God’s judgment, but rather out of joy because God has enabled you to be faithful, and gives us grace and merciful discipline when we are not.