gospel of john

God’s Glory or Personal Glory?

~ ckwills ~ Leave a comment

I like to read books about people’s visions of heaven. Of course, I take them all with a grain of salt, and I compare them to Scripture, but I do find them inspiring. The descriptions thrill me and help me keep my eyes on the prize. 

One book was particularly sobering. This young man was a military recruit in World War II, and he died of pneumonia in the barracks hospital during training. He saw his own body with the sheet pulled over his head. Then Jesus, the Man made of Light, came into the room, and the young man’s life started playing like a 3D movie around him. A question came from the living Light: What did you do with your life? Every response the young man made was met with the answer, That glorified you. Then came the next question: What have you done with your life to show Me? He grasped instantly that Jesus was asking what he had done with His life to show the world the unconditional love of Jesus. 

That scene has replayed in my mind many times. It has caused a knot in my stomach as I’ve struggled with how to live my life for God’s glory and not my own. That is the question, isn’t it? Our actions, our deeds, our words — they may be the same either way; but one way brings glory to God, the other is for personal glory. What is the difference? How do I live for God’s glory?

This week I read a scripture that shed some light on this for me. Let me put it in context. In the encounters Jesus has with the people and the Pharisees in John 6-8, He continually tells them that He isn’t acting on His own, that He is not doing His own will or saying His own words, but He is doing and saying only that which He receives from His Father. He tells them this over and over, hoping against hope that they will put their faith in Him.

Then, in John 7:17-18, Jesus says, 

Anyone who chooses to do the will of God will find out whether my teaching comes from God or whether I speak on my own. Whoever speaks on their own does so to gain personal glory, but he who seeks the glory of the one who sent him is a man of truth; there is nothing false about him. 

It hit me. Doing and saying things that originate from me bring personal glory; doing and saying things that originate from God bring Him the glory. It’s so obvious that you are probably wondering what I’m so stunned about. Let me try to explain. 

Jesus always sought the Father, in order to receive from Him, and then He did and spoke what He heard the Father say or saw the Father do (John 5:19; 12:49-50). He spent time with God, received from Him, and broke that bread before the people. That brought glory to the Father, not to Himself. That is how we live our lives for God’s glory. 

Of course, that’s why the Father has given us the Holy Spirit. When we live out of the infinite resource of the Holy Spirit in us, we will bring glory to God by showing Him to the world. When we live out of our desires, our flesh, our thinking or our feelings —  then it’s all for personal glory or personal satisfaction.  

Have you noticed those times when you are living out of the Holy Spirit only? Your words, your actions, the great love you have for people — how it is from Him and not you? For me, this only happens when I spend more time with Him, when I’ve been filled with Him — saturated with the Spirit and not the world. Otherwise, I live out of my own desires, out of my own impulses — for my own glory. Lord, help me.

I can only end with a prayer.

Father, draw me to you as I’ve never been drawn before. Forgive me for all the times I’ve neglected being with You. Retrain me. Let the world fall away. Make my priorities right. Help me let go of my own agenda. I want to please you. I want to bring glory to You, to reveal You to the world, as You’ve asked. Just….. help.  

Complaining, Whining, and Joy

~ ckwills ~ 1 Comment

A couple days after Christmas, my husband and I took our five grandkids (ages 9 – 18) to the Magic Kingdom at Disney. We knew it would be crowded because it was during the Christmas holidays. That meant longer lines, missing some rides, and fighting crowds all day. During the hour drive there, I issued a challenge. Each of us got a tiny baggie with 10 dried beans in it. When anyone complained about anything, they had to give up a bean. The person with the most beans at the end of the day got $10.

The next thing we had to do was to define complaining. If someone said, “It’s raining,” or “It’s cold,” or “My arm hurts,” was that complaining or just stating a fact? Facts are ok; complaining is not. They decided on their own that complaining has to do with the tone of voice. We made my husband the judge on that. We also included teasing and poking each other as off limits, because that elicits a whiny response. 

By that evening, no one had lost a bean except me: I lost two beans. One of my granddaughters was walking on one toe, and I asked her if her feet were hurting. She said her heel hurt, but she wasn’t going to complain. And she said it with neutral emotion — just stating a fact, not resentful at all. 

We had the best time I can remember. It was joyful all day long, and it was a blast. 

Which leads me to something I saw in the Gospel of John last night in a class at church… In John chapter 5, Jesus asks a man who has been lame for 38 years if he wants to get well.

“Sir,” the invalid replied, “I have no one to help me into the pool when the water is stirred. While I am trying to get in, someone else goes down ahead of me.”

I wonder if that reply would have cost a bean. 

I only say that because, after Jesus healed him, Jesus ran into the man later and told him, “See, you are well again. Stop sinning or something worse may happen to you.”

What did Jesus mean? We know that Jesus refuted the common belief then that someone’s sin caused disabilities, diseases, and even misfortune. We know this from the healing of the blind man in John 9:

As he went along, he saw a man blind from birth. His disciples asked him, “Rabbi, who sinned, this man or his parents, that he was born blind?” 

“Neither this man nor his parents sinned,” said Jesus, “but this happened so that the works of God might be displayed in him.”

So what sin was Jesus referring to with the man who had been lame, but was healed?

It hit me last night that Jesus might have been talking about the sin of complaining, of self-pity, of blaming. 

Now, none of us would judge the lame man for feeling sorry for himself and complaining; we can’t imagine what it would be like to have lived his life. We would agree that he had lots of reasons to feel self-pity, even bitter. Nevertheless, could it be that, no matter our circumstances, we are to praise and thank instead of complain and murmur?

I think back to the joyful day at Disney in which no one (but me!) complained or griped or whined or blamed. We loved providing that day for our grandkids, but it would have soured if there had been teasing and fighting and whining and complaining. Does God feel that way too about His kids? Have we really not been given enough to find something to thank Him for, to praise Him for?

This is on the front burner in my life right now. I give all of you permission to call me on this if you hear me complain! I want God to look at me with that joyful heart we had at Disney that day. What about you?

By the way, all the grandkids were so good, we gave all of them money!