"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
I hope when you read this, that you can follow my thinking as I've typed it out. It's all really good stuff that the Lord has been revealing to me and reminding me, and I felt led to share it on my blog. It's pretty long but I believe worth reading. :-)
Think about these two questions:
What is the meaning of life?
How can I have a meaningful life?
These could seem like difficult questions to answer, but really it's quite simple. At least my explanation of it is going to be simple. I suppose one could make it more in depth than I am going to. Others could really answer these questions completely wrong and go way off track and certainly make it difficult in their own mind. But I do believe that God is clear in His Word as to how we can give ourselves and others the answers to these two questions.
We're going to approach it from the assumption that the person asking these questions is a believer in the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let me start by saying that I have been asking myself these questions lately. I've been thinking about my own life and how it would be different than it is if I had it the way that I think would be perfect. Like...I would, for instance, certainly be married and have a few kids by now, etc...(for example). So then I thought about how I have prayed for these things, but God's plans for me have obviously been different than what I expected. And yet, looking back I can see all that God has done in my life during these years that I would've liked to have been married, and I am VERY thankful to have had these years to grow in the Lord as I have and may not otherwise had I been married. So God has allowed me to see how, to this point, He has worked everything out for my good according to His purpose. He has shown me specifically how He has been faithful to that promise in my life even with things not going according to MY plans.
"For My thoughts are not your thoughts, Nor are your ways My ways," declares the LORD." Isaiah 55:8
So...in saying that, I have realized that we can't exactly make our own plans and go for it and get what we want just because we want it. So in that sense, to have a meaningful life isn't something that we can plan out for ourselves what we think would make us most happy and then be ambitious and go for it.
We can pray for these things(and we SHOULD), but what is our desire behind the prayer for those things in our life(whatever they may be)? With my personal example for instance...WHY do I want to be married? WHY do I want kids? Because I think that's what is going to make me happy? If that's the case, then my motives behind praying for them are totally wrong. If I think that they are what will bring ultimate meaning to my life, then I am wrong to even ask for them from God.
Where am I going with this?
I guess what I'm trying to say is that WE are not what brings meaning to our lives. And THINGS are not what give us meaning. Other PEOPLE aren't our meaning. It's not even about us at all. It's all about Him. EVERYTHING is about Him including our salvation. We are here to glorify Him. That's it. That is the meaning of our lives and that is our purpose on earth.
Simple, huh?
We figure out what brings glory to God and we live our lives accordingly. We can start by being in the Word, in prayer, and spending time with the body of Christ. Also, as a lot of you have heard this most quoted statement made by John Piper: "God is most glorified in us when we are most satisfied in Him." So we glorify Him the most when we are content in Him, finding all of our fulfillment in Him, and making every move in our life in order to please Him because we love Him.
For me, I have begun to understand this more even when it comes to petitioning the Lord for something that I desire in this life. Am I asking for whatever I am asking for because I want to have my desire fulfilled for my own benefit? OR am I asking the Lord to fulfill this request so He can be more glorified in my life by granting that request? And WOULD He be more glorified if I were to receive it? And another very important question, will I still glorify and bless His name should He so choose to NOT give me what I've asked for?
This can really pertain to anything in our lives. Any decision we make- including the seemingly simple/mundane things in life. We've got to ask ourselves, "Am I asking for or doing this for the glory of God?" "Will I glorify God if I choose to go that route?" "Will God be glorified through me if I speak to this person about that thing that I feel I should say to them?" etc...
Today the Lord led me to this passage in Psalms and again reminded me that it's not about us. It's about Him.
"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
The Psalmist goes on to talk about how our God is in the heavens and He does as He pleases. He is exalted over other gods. We are reminded to trust in the Lord and fear Him for He is our help and our shield. Then the Psalmist states how He will bless us- those who fear the Lord.
So...for His glory, He does as He pleases. For His glory, He blesses us. For His glory, He saves us. Yes, for His glory Christ Jesus died on the cross. All for His glory, He created us to glorify Him and love Him.
The meaning of life is to glorify God.
To have a meaningful life, we do our best to glorify Him in all that we do.
So we must ask ourselves, "Am I giving God the glory?"
"So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God." 1 Corinthians 10:31
We glorify God by being happy in Him.
God is all that we need. In Him is complete fullness and joy. ("You make known to me the path of life; in Your presence there is fullness of joy; at Your right hand are pleasures forevermore." Psalm 16:11)
This is why Jesus Christ died, to bring us to God.(1 Peter 3:18)
So His love for us is revealed in that He would give His own Son to bring us to Himself because He is what we need more than anything else.
Oh Father, help me to live a life that will make much of You and much of Your Son. I am nothing without You.
"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
