Glorifying God
Posted by KristinQuoting Jonathan Edwards:
"Now what is glorifying God, but a rejoicing at that glory he has displayed? An understanding of the perfections of God, merely, cannot be the end of creation; for he had as good not understand it, as see it and not be at all moved with joy at the sight. Neither can the highest end of creation be the declaring God's glory to others; for the declaring God's glory is good for nothing otherwise than to raise joy in ourselves and others at what is declared.
The style's a bit bumpy at first, but go back and read it again. Don't let the puritan prose throw you. If you're still confused let me unravel it for you with my modern paraphrase:God is the most God-centered being in the universe. He is consumed with love for himself and has infinite admiration for his own beauty. This passionate desire to be joyfully celebrated is the reason you and I exist. If all we do is think about God, even if our thoughts are accurate, we're better off not thinking at all. Telling others what we think isn't much better. The reason why we think about God and tell others what we've thought is so that all of us might relish the very idea of Him and rejoice that so great a God is actually ours.
...So we'll assume there is at least a verbal consensus among Christians that creation exists for God's glory. But that's only step one. We're now faced with an even more important question: How is he most glorified in us? Where and in what way is God's glory most clearly revealed? Through what mechanism or means do we bring him the honor that we all agree he deserves? I believe the consistent answer of Scripture is that God is most glorified in us when our knowledge and experience of him ignite a forest fire of joy that consumes all competing pleasures and he alone becomes the treasure that we prize. Here's how Edwards puts it:
God is glorified not only by his glory's being seen, but by its being rejoiced in. When those that see it delight in it, God is more glorified than if they only see it. God made the world that he might communicate, and the creature receive, his glory…both [with] the mind and the heart. He that testifies his having an idea of God's glory [doesn't] glorify God so much as he that testifies also his approbation [ i.e., his heartfelt commendation or praise] of it and his delight in it.
posted by Kristin at
10:33 AM
6 Comments:
Where did you find your template??
It is very nice!!
Well, it's just a regular template that blogger provides when you sign up for an account! We do, however, have a custom designed header.
Hope this helps :)
Great thoughts! Thanks for posting them. In the past I struggled with "Why am I here?" type questions. But then I figured out that my main purpose in life is to glorify God. Since then, I've been very interested in the topic - and I really appreciate your post.
However, I don't 100% agree with your paraphrase of the first quote. I agree that we were made for God's glory (as I said above) however, I don't agree that God is totally self-centered. If He were, He wouldn't have sent Jesus to die for us. I can't imagine how hard that must have been for Him (I won't pretend to). And Jesus (who is a part of God) wouldn't have given up His life for us. One who is totally self-centered wouldn't do something like that. I may have misunderstood what you were trying to say, so I'm sorry if I did :)
Thanks for your comments Kelsa, however, none of us contributors wrote the paraphrase to what Mr. Edwards said. That is what the author, Sam Storms paraphrased. I supposed I should have made that clearer in the post :)
I do agree with you when you say, I don't agree that God is totally self-centered. If He were, He wouldn't have sent Jesus to die for us. I can't imagine how hard that must have been for Him.
When I first read Mr. Storms paraphrase, I thought it sounded a little off, but decided to post it anyways because I thought the remaining thoughts were okay.
Kelsa,
The whole concept of God's glory can be pretty difficult to understand. I've struggled with it a lot, wondering why God wants everyone to give Him the glory. (It seemed selfish to me.) However, I have learned that God's glory is the outward manifestation of who He is. Like an artist's painting is an expression of himself, God's glory is the expression of Himself. As our Creator, He wants us to see who He is through what He has done.
I don't know if I'm explaining this very clearly (its such a deep topic, and I've still got so much to learn!) I'd recommend listening to some of John Piper's sermons on God's glory at desiringgod.org, or reading some of his books. They have really had an impact on me, and have helped my understanding of why we need to glorify God.
Kristin, I'm sorry I didn't realize that you didn't write that! I'm glad that I wasn't the only one that thought it sounded a little odd :)
Hannah, That concept is pretty difficult to grasp! I've had brief moments when I thought it seemed selfish. But most of the time I have a fairly good understanding of it. Like you said, all of creation is a work of the Master Artist. We were made for the purpose of glorifying Him. It would be selfish for us humans to expect the world to glorify us because we are not worthy. God created us though, created us to glorify Him, and He is the only One who is worthy to be glorified! (He, including the Father, Son, and Spirit) I hope that makes a little bit of sense anyway. :)
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