Giving Glory to God

"You guys don't grow up. It's like you need to pee on everything." — Natalie
"Why do you assume that's singular to men." — Ryan, "Up In The Air"

Who do we give glory to, God or ourselves? That was the question of the sermon this morning offered by our worship director Jim DeJarnette. He drew that idea from Joshua 4, where Joshua builds an alter — or Ebenezer — to God after their Israelites crossing of the Jordan River.

When you think about that idea, and you think about our world, it's clear to see where we often fall on that question as a society. We build stadiums and sky scrappers to ourselves. We are a society that is all about celebrity status. Just being famous is enough. You don't even really have to do anything to achieve or earn it.

But that's not what God would have us do in our lives. He would have us give Him the glory for what he has provided. That flies in the face of the American ethic of self-glorification and self-aggrandizement.

When I think about my own life, I am blessed to be where I am doing the work I am doing. And I know it was ALL GOD. If left to my own devices, I don't know where I would be.

When I was in college, I wanted to be the next Bob Costas. I wanted to be front and center at major sporting events. That seemed like the perfect life. And there are still parts of that I find appealing, but I think now that would be an unfulfilling life.

There was another time, when I was working as a newspaper editor in Paso Robles, that I was profoundly dissatisfied with what I had achieved in my career. I was to the point where I applied to work in Fairbanks, Alaska, and probably would have gone had I not felt the pull of God telling me to be patient and wait for all He had for me.

I sometimes think about that time, and think about how much more profoundly unhappy I would be as a copy editor in the northern reaches of Alaska. No, I have no doubt that my life is what it is because of what God has done for me.

I don't know what my Ebenezer would be, but I hope that, in some small way, my contributions to the Kingdom through my job bring glory and honor to Him.