Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory,
for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness! -Psalms 115:1
All nighters, staying up late, studying hard, working hard, trying so hard to prove yourself, for what? And then, after you get that result you want, after you master the skill, what will you do with it? All of the blood, sweat and tears – what is it for?
Working hard is a great attribute to have; it can teach you resilience, strength, and to not give up. But at the end of the day, after you’ve practiced this instrument, after you’ve studied this hard, and after you’ve come this far, what do you achieve other than the skill? Perhaps you work hard for that feeling that you’re actually talented and you’re that extra step above others? In the end, it comes back to glory. Glory for yourself. You show that A grade and everyone widens their eyes and compliments you for your intelligence. You perform that instrument and ace the performance, and everyone is in awe, saying, ‘Wow! You’re so good at this!”. Everything comes back to you and how good you are. Everything adds up to your own glory. And it feels good doesn’t it? But the Bible says otherwise. In the verse above, it says : “Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory,for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!” Not to us but to God. Then after that part, the verse says ‘for the sake of your steadfast love and faithfulness’. It explains how we should give glory to God because of His steadfast love and faithfulness to us. So what? Why should we give God the glory and what steadfast love and faithfulness? We were the ones that worked hard for it, right?
We should give the glory to God because of these 3 reasons. But first, let’s read of this verse, because it will come in handy when I explain some of the reasons. Isaiah 43:7 says: everyone who is called by my name,whom I created for my glory,whom I formed and made.”
- We should give glory to God because he gave us our gifts
That’s right; God was the one who gave us our abilities, skills, and the one who made us. Without God, we would be nothing and we wouldn’t be able to do anything. It’s only right to give the glory back to God and to present it as an offering to God. The latter part of the verse says, “whom I formed and made”. This provides proof and evidence that God was the one who made us and therefore we should give glory to Him.
- We should give glory to God because the reason God created us was to glorify Him forever
In the first point, I explained how we should glorify God because He was the one who gave us these gifts and created us. But why did He create us and give us these gifts?
This is where the first part of the verse comes in, “everyone who is called by my name,
whom I created for my glory.” This part of the verse is talking about how God created us for His glory. This is our purpose on earth. Just as a toothbrush was made for brushing your teeth; in order to use this toothbrush to its fullest potential and to make it most effective, you need to use it to brush your teeth. You can use it to clean a car, but that is not the ultimate purpose of the toothbrush. Similarly,our goal is to fulfill the purpose that God has given to us which is to glorify God forever.
- Because by giving God the glory, people will be brought to see His amazing works and it can bring them closer to God
If we give the glory to God, people around us such as our friends and family will be amazed at how God created everyone with individual unique talents and how amazingly God created us. Instead of acing that performance to get the glory for yourself, if you give the glory to God, others will see how God can use such talents from young people and this will bring them to awe, not because of your skill, but because of God’s goodness. As a result, people also may be inspired to be used by God like that someday.
So, now that you’ve heard all this, in that next opportunity to gain glory for yourself, will you grab it for yourself, or give it to God?
