For God's GLory

Last Sunday I preached in Saint Leonard, Maryland. We had a great time. Plenty of laughter. Lots of warmth. But best of all... several people giving their lives to Christ for the first time! Praise God. I shared with the church something I believed the Lord laid on my heart from the Epistle to the Romans. I took the last few verses and showed how this thought about living for the glory of God was the theme and thread of the Book of Romans. Everything we do should be for God's glory. When we don't measure up we have "fallen short of God's glory". Before we do anything, we should make sure that we are doing it for God's glory- no matter how trivial or mundane. Living this way means that we don't separate "spiritual" activities from "secular" activities, rather we view all of our lives as opportunities for God to be glorified.

Rom. 5:2 Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.

But it also means that when it's hard to glorify God we must depend on Him to help us. By asking God for the faith to live the way we should, we are ultimately giving Him glory. When we find it hard to love, hard to forgive, hard to be prayerful, hard to be holy, hard to be pure, hard to be passionate- all of the 27 things listed in Romans 12:9-21. . . we need God's help. And when we acknowledge that it is God who is strengthening us, He gets the glory.

Rom. 15:7 Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

Amen