“So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
1 Corinthians 10:31
The Westminster Catechism states: “The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” But what does it mean to glorify God? 1 Cor. 10:31 makes it the blanket expectation for all of life. And so does Col. 3:17.
“And whatever you do, in word or deed, do everything in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.”
Colossians 3:17
So honoring God at least involves gratitude, verbal appreciation and worshipful adoration. And a commitment to glorify God always rules out drawing attention to ourselves or seeking our own desires.
“Not to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory, for the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!”
Psalm 115:1
But a key additional factor, and arguably the central issue in glorifying God, is enjoying Him. John Piper built a ministry around the premise that “the chief end of man is to glorify God by enjoying Him forever.” C.S. Lewis anticipated this idea a generation earlier:
“I think we delight to praise what we enjoy because the praise not merely expresses but completes the enjoyment; it is its appointed consummation… Fully to enjoy is to glorify. In commanding us to glorify Him, God is inviting us to enjoy Him.”
C.S. Lewis, Reflections on the Psalms
We all naturally praise the people and things we enjoy. It isn’t forced or unnatural, but rather the spontaneous fulfillment of our enjoyment — of a football game, a business project, a new boyfriend or girlfriend, an excellent restaurant or recipe. All of life and all relationships overflow with praise because enjoyment naturally produces verbal recognition, appreciation and celebration.
And that is precisely how we honor God best. Piper says it beautifully: “God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him.”
How are you doing at enjoying God? Every day do you find time to delight in His presence and to revel in His love? Have you found the habits that most stir up your affections for the Lord?
To glorify someone is to give them the honor, recognition and praise they deserve. God, of course, deserves all honor, recognition and praise from all people and all creatures at all times forever.
So how can you glorify God today? How can you slow down enough to enjoy Him and simply delight in who He is and how He loves you?