Bringing Him Glory

I Peter 2:12

Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may account of your good deeds, as they observe them, glorify God in the day of visitation.

As I worked through my day today and my sin began to shape my attitude and actions, God placed on my heart a very specific question. Am I bringing glory to His name and to the life of Christ? He is a great, mighty and perfect God and His Son led a spotless life. Am I showing my non-believing friends that this is the God I serve? Unfortunately, I think most of the time my answer would have to be “no.” Do I bring glory to God when I complain about one of my co-workers not working hard enough? Does it honor the life of Christ when I make sarcastic remarks about another person? So often I am guilty of shaming the life and mission of our Savior. If I am Christ’s ambassador to this world, what am I saying? By my comments I am showing the world that my opinion of someone matters more than that person’s feelings. In essence, I am telling God that what I believe about a situation is more important than the person who caused situation coming to know Christ.

So how do I bring glory to His name? Is it a greater testimony for the body of Christ for me to have a quick answer and a socially acceptable opinion of the office “weird-guy” or for me to fight the trend and keep silent when there is gossiping all around me? I think the latter answer would be God’s choice. I think it is hard sometimes to draw a line between becoming friends with someone, in order to share Christ, and becoming one of the group you were attempting to share with. As I spoke slanderous comments about two of my friends (comments that happened to be facts but, nevertheless, facts that did not need to be put out in the open), God asked me, “What will these people think of me if the wife of a future pastor is talking about someone this way?” And I realized that each one of them is looking at me to see who Christ was and is. I also realized that I had valued acceptance over someone else’s salvation. Every day I need to fight my urge to say what is on my mind and speak kindly and fairly. I will bring greater glory to God if I do “un-human” things like have patience with someone who is blatantly annoying and have mercy on someone who has harmed me. God has given me the strength to live as He wants me to- I need to take advantage of His gifts and be an example to a hell-bound world.

Today, I ask you to question your actions and words as you go throughout the day. Are you bringing glory to the name of your God? Does the world know Christ better because of your actions? If you answered no, pray for God’s mercy and ask for Him to show you what He desires of you.