Glorify God In Your Body

“He who speaks from himself, seeks his own glory, but he who is seeking the Glory of the one Who sent him, he is true and there is no unrighteousness in him” (John 7:18). True disciples of Jesus glorify the One who called them. Those who know God’s will, and are guided by Him, do all to the glory of God. Conversely, if we are not glorifying God and being a positive witness by what we are doing and saying, then it can’t be God’s will. That is an easy way to determine whether doing something is right or wrong for you. That simple test challenged me when I was an engineer and the member of a bridge club. I loved the game, but I could no longer play it at noon with my fellow engineers and be a positive witness for the Lord Jesus Christ, nor glorify Him by the way I was playing the game. Bridge wasn’t the problem. I was the problem. So I quite the bridge club, but I did read the bridge column in the paper for years until I reached enough maturity to play the game without compromising who I am in Christ.

Subjugation to the Father’s will is perfectly modeled in the Godhead. Notice first the example of Jesus: “For I proceeded forth and have come from God, for I have not even come on My own initiative, but He sent Me” (John 8:42). In talking with His Father, Jesus said: “I glorified You on earth, having accomplished the work which You gave Me to do . . . Now they know that everything that You have given Me is from You; for the words which You gave to Me I have given to them; and they received them, and have come to know in truth that I came from You; and they have believed that You sent Me” (John 17:4,7,8).

The Holy Spirit functions in the same way according to John 14:16; 16:13,14; “I will ask the Father and He will give you another Helper that He may be with you forever, that is the Spirit of Truth. . . When He, the Spirit of Truth comes, He will guide you into all truth, for He will not speak on His own initiative; whatever He will speak, He will speak and disclose to you what is to come. And He shall glorify Me, for He shall take of Mine and shall disclose it to you.”

According to John 20:21 this directive also applies to us, “As the Father has sent Me, I also send you.” Granted, that was said to the apostles, but we have all been commissioned to make disciples. God-sent Christians are called to glorify their Heavenly Father. Those who go on their own initiative seek their own glory. Do you want to be true? Then glorify the one who sent you! The apostle Paul asked; “Do you not know your body is a temple of the Holy Spirit Who is in you, Whom you have from God, and that you are not your own? For you have been bought with a price, therefore glorify God in your body” (1 Corinthians 6:19,20).

Dr. Neil

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