There are some Christians who perceive that if the emphasis in their lives is to glorify God and put God first, then they can be lazy, be a failure or a poor doormat for people to step on. This is far from the truth of the Bible.
The biblical basis for a spiritual emphasis in every area of a believer’s life is 1 Corinthians 10:31 , “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” This spiritual emphasis of God’s glory encompasses every aspect of our lives. Barnes explains 1 Corinthians 10:31 well when he wrote, “The phrase, "the glory of God," is equivalent to the honour of God; and the direction is, that we should so act in all things as to honour him as our Lawgiver, our Creator, our Redeemer; and so as to lead others by our example to praise him and to embrace his gospel. A child acts so as to honour a father when he always cherishes reverential and proper thoughts of him; when he is thankful for his favours; when he keeps his laws; when he endeavours to advance his plans and his interests;; and when he so acts as to lead all around him to cherish elevated opinions of the character of a father. He dishonours him when he has no respect to his authority; when he breaks his laws; when he leads others to treat him with disrespect. In like manner, we live to the glory of God when we honour him in all the relations which he sustains to us; when we keep his laws; when we partake of his favours with thankfulness, and with a deep sense of our dependence; when we pray unto him; and when we so live as to lead those around us to cherish elevated conceptions of his goodness, and mercy, and holiness. Whatever plan or purpose will tend to advance his kingdom, and to make him better known and loved, will be to his glory.”
The Christian Student and God’s glory -- As students we study hard for God’s glory. We do not study for our parents or for scholarship no matter how noble some of these reasons may appear. They are still earth bound reasons which are carnal and will not last when tested by the fire of God’s judgement. For example, students study hard for their parents’ sake but when the parents are dead and gone their motivations die with them. When we study for scholarship and scholarships do not come, we will be devastated and the hard work ends. If we study for excellence sake and we are not recognized by others especially our peers and those we idolize, we are discouraged and again the hard work will stand still. We cease to work hard when these worldly aims are not achieved. Even if they are achieved we will be grievously disappointed because when we arrive at the “top” it is vanity and disappears like the morning dew. But when we study for God’s glory, our diligence remains constant and will change only when our love for God wanes. If we maintain our love for God by God’s Spirit, we will study hard and at the same time commit our future and the results of our hard work to the LORD. The glory will be to God and we will study harder than ever before and never be lazy. When we study for God’s glory, we have already arrived for this is our goal which is not dependent upon results but our efforts and motive.
The Christian Worker and God’s glory -- If we are working, then we do not work for money or for promotion. This means that every day when we go to work we are not motivated by money or bonuses or promotions. If we are, then we will be man-pleasers and will be ineffective as witnesses for Christ. We work overtime for man’s glory and man’s rewards. Our hard work will cease when these “rewards” are not attained. The oft seen reaction when we are motivated by earthly rewards is that we will murmur and complain when we do not receive them. But if we are motivated because we want to glorify God, our diligence is constant for we know that our heavenly Father watches over us. He sees not only our actions but the motive behind every action. We will rise above office politics and whether bonuses or promotions come or not, we are happy and continue to give our very best. Our aim and goal is to please and honour God. Our testimony would be tremendous. The false conclusion is that we think that with this focus we will be poor and remain poor all our lives. We will be miserable and be seen as a failure. This is completely not true. What it means is that we live an abundant life of faith and trust in our heavenly Father for all things. He will know what we need and when we can cope with more material possessions. He will send them in His time because we do not work for them or look for them. Our focus is on God and His glory which is already achieved every time we give our best to Him.
If our God wants us to be rich like King David or Abraham or Isaac or Jacob or Daniel or Joseph, He will bring it to pass and no one can stop Him. But if He does not want us to be rich, we know He knows best as our heavenly Father and we continue to give our very best to Him because we love Him. Under such a spiritual emphasis, when wealth comes in God’s own time, He knows we will be able to handle that wealth or else He would not send them. We will not be ruined by the wealth and remain humble and use the wealth for the glory of God since that will continue to be our motivation, like Daniel and Joseph. Our motive to glorify God will not be affected by whether we have wealth or no wealth. On the other hand, when we are motivated by money or the pursuit of excellence because of some earth-bound reasons, we will be ruined by our possessions, even when we succeed and do extremely well and become very wealthy. We become indulgent and our lifestyle will be one of opulence. Nothing but the branded clothes and eating in restaurants and hotels and up market eateries of posh and fanciful interiors which would set us back hundreds if not thousands of dollars. This luxurious lifestyle will inevitably draw us away from the LORD and from following him. The end of life would be the Ecclesiastical refrain “Vanity of vanities, all is vanity!”
The spiritual emphasis in the earthly lives of God’s children is not an option for the obedient Christian. It is a joyful refrain in his life that he sings constantly and he lives daily by faith. It is not only an abundant life but the only right life that will glory God and bring the glad refrain from His omnipotent lips, “Welcome home my good and faithful servant, you have done well!” Amen.