To God Be the Glory

Ephesians 3:20-21 (ESV)-20. Now to Him who is able to do far more abundantly than all that we ask or think, according to the power at work within us, 21. to Him be the glory...

What a humbling verse. There are many times when we go about our daily lives and forget to give the glory back to God. In life, we love for people to recognize us. We want them to acknowledge we are doing a good job. This is a normal response we have, but it’s not the only thing we should think about as Christians. It feels really good for someone to give us a pat on the back or an encouraging word. We feel confident in ourselves when we do things well. There's nothing wrong with confidence, but sometimes we can get a little too confident and try to do things on our own. That's when things don't go as well. We can get so caught up in wanting people to notice us that we forget our purpose. We were created to glorify God. He wants us to give Him glory for our accomplishments in life. That’s not always an easy thing to do, but that’s what God wants from us.

If you’re anything like me, you want to figure things out on your own and do it by yourself. This is not an attitude that comes from God. He wants us to rely on Him and His strength, not just ourselves. We become dependent on what we can do in a day-checking off our to do lists, performing well at our jobs, and managing everything at home. We become so confident in ourselves that we forget the One who gave us the ability to do it all. We seek praise for what we do on our own without giving a second thought to our Creator.

Just like we want people to recognize us, we should be doing the same for our Savior. He deserves our praise. We wouldn’t be who we are if it wasn’t for Christ. We are nothing without Him. Our lives are not just about us. We live in a world and culture that is "all about me." Taking time to do things you enjoy or do well is not a bad thing, but that is not our purpose on this earth. We were created by Him and for Him. Our lives should point other people back to Him. Next time you do something well, don’t forget to thank God for allowing you to be successful.

There's so much more to live for than just ourselves and our immediate situation(s). God is always working in our lives-whether visible or invisible. It's easy to praise Him when He answers our prayers and life seems to be going our way. It's a lot harder when we come to a crossroad and we're not sure which direction to turn. This is when we find it difficult to trust, ask questions, and lose a little bit of our faith in the power God has to change any situation. When we offer our lives to Him without trying to give God guidelines for how our lives should go, that is when He will bring blessings. Sometimes we have to let go of what we believe success should look like and allow God to work within us. That's when He gets the glory.

When I first began to write this post in April, I had just found out I was pregnant. Of course, it was easy to write this when I was thankful God had answered my prayers. However, the answer took longer than I thought. Looking back now, I know He was working it all out for my good, even though it didn't feel good at the time. It won't always come easy, but God deserves our praise-in the times when He answers and the times when He doesn't. God gets the glory always. Not because of WHAT He does, but because of WHO He is.