Have you ever been really good at something?
Maybe you're blessed with being academic
or being starting quarterback for your football team
or the head cheerleader
or the best singer
or a talented basketball player
or a good writer
or an amazing dancer
or a good leader ...
The list goes on and on and on and on ...
Now let me ask you this ...
Whose glory do you do it for?
There's only two choices you can chose from to answer that question.
1. You do it for THE GLORY OF THE LORD
OR
2. You do it for your OWN GLORY
It's that simple!
In Isaiah 58, we see the act of doing things for our own glory going on. God has just delivered the people of Judah from exile in Babylon, and they were fasting and having the Sabbath feast.
If you're not familiar with fasting and the Sabbath here's a little bit of background ...
~The Sabbath was to be considered as a time of delighting in the Lord and in all his blessings.
In a verse following the passage of Isaiah 58:1-12, it says,
"...And call the sabbath a delight, the holy day of the Lord honorable..." -Isaiah 58:13
~Fasting was what people did back then to humble themselves to God by abstaining from eating food.
But here's the problem with their religious practices ...
They were being EMPTY in them.
They were doing it for their OWN GLORY.
Isaiah 58:3a in the New Living Translation (NLT) says,
'We have fasted before you!' they say.
'Why aren't you impressed?
We have been very hard on ourselves,
and you don't even notice it!'
"I will tell you why!" I respond.
"It's because you are fasting to please yourselves."
God speaks through Isaiah, the prophet, to the people of Judah about being self-glorifying. Even back in 539 B.C. they were struggling with the issue of doing things for their own glory.
So what's a person to do about this issue?
My response would be to take the things that you use for self-glorification and give it to God.
Surrender it!
Give Him back the talents He has given you!
I encourage you to write down everything that you tend to use for your own glory on a piece of paper.
Put it on a mirror,
In your car,
Wherever you know you'll see it daily.
And every time you see it, just stop,
Stop & shoot a little prayer up to God.
Ask Him ...
Pray to Him ...
to take your life and all your talents & ask Him to use them ONLY for His glory.
† God, help me to always remember who gave me the talents I have. Remind me whose I am & and who my life should reflect. I surrender all that I am to you, Lord. Use me for YOUR GLORY & not my own! Amen.
Don't forget to comment!:)
Good questions to ponder! Also reminds me what I'm blessed for and who I need to thank for my talents! Thank you!
ReplyDeleteReally makes me think about how God has blessed me with so many things and talents I have, and I don't give him the glory. Something to work on!
ReplyDeleteI completely agree with all of this. Everything we have we dont deserve but God decided to give it to us. So why wouldn't we glorify him for what he gave us? -Cam
ReplyDeleteGreat questions to ponder, and also just a reminder that I should give all that I have to God. Thank you! Andrew Rarick
ReplyDeleteThis comment has been removed by the author.
ReplyDeletePutting things I use for my own glory on a piece of paper is a really great idea. I'll be sure to do that.
ReplyDeleteThis really makes me think on what Im doing for myself and what I should be doing for God.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great reminder of how easy it is to give the glory to ourselves. I love the idea of praying and asking God for his help whenever we feel like we are straying from him.
ReplyDeleteP.S. I love the layout of your blog:)
mo
ReplyDeletei like that question you ask. why should we bring glory to ourselves when the gift was given to us? we should give al the praise and glory to the one who had blessed us with our great gift, the Lord on high.
Hannah,
ReplyDeleteThis really makes me feel blessed and has made me realize that I need to Glorify Him in all the ways he has blessed me. I need to work on this in all ways.
Caleb Kroft
Auston Nigg: You did a great job breaking down the text and explaining what it says.
ReplyDeleteJoey Morlan- "Really like when it asked if we use out talents for the glory of God, or for our own glory. It really makes you think twice about what you are using your talents for. This is something I will try to ask myself daily. Thanks."
ReplyDeleteThis illustrates how God is so giving, but when we don't give glory to him, it is basically worth nothing. Good job!
ReplyDeleteI like your idea of "surrendering" to God and giving him the glory. That is hard for us to do because we are selfish and want the glory to ourselves. Also I like the idea of writing down things that I use for my own glory. That will be helpful.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great reality check! Thanks, It made me look on my life and truly see where I put my glory before God's Glory. Everything we have, we have because God blessed us with that, so we should give all that Glory to him. Thanks for the reminder.
ReplyDeleteI mixed up my comments, oops! well this is a great and clear reminder about who deserves what here. God is so more important than ourselves and what else. As the song tells us the Glory to God!!!!!!
ReplyDeleteRegards-
Arch Bishop.
Everyone has talents that they can give back to God. Great reminder.
ReplyDelete-Logan N.
Thanks for the good reminder about who the glory really belongs to. God has made everything; he deserves everything we have to give but a lot of times we get into the frame of mind that it's us who is accomplishing these things. -Emily T.
ReplyDeleteWow Hannah, you did a really nice job! It makes really makes you think, "so what am I doing with the talents God's given me?... Do i just do it to make myself look cool? or do I do it because I know that it will be glorifying to God?"
ReplyDelete-Madison
I like how you said that when the Israelites were "going through the motions", they were really giving the glory to themselves. We don't always see it that way, but it really is because the only reason we would "go through the motions" is to fit in. Thank you for the great reminder that we are either praising God or praising ourselves.
ReplyDeleteHannah this was so awesome! Like you said, it can sometimes be very hard to remember that everything we are given is ultimately from God. And that no matter what, we need to give Him the glory and honor of both our successes and failures. I can't be reminded enough about this!
ReplyDeleteIt really makes you think* is what i meant to say :)
ReplyDelete-Madison
Wow that was amazing again Hannah! This is a great reality check and made me examine my life. This was a great way to check where and what I am putting before Gods Glory.
ReplyDeleteI really liked how you asked the question, " whose glory do you do it for"? I like your idea about "surrendering" to God, and giving all your glory to him. I know that a lot of the times I am selfish and want that Glory for myself with whatever area in my life it is. So that was a good reality check for me Hannah! Thank you! Great Blog.... very well done! :)
ReplyDelete- Rebecca Kanpol
This is a great reminder of how much God has given to me, but how little and not often I give back to him. This is something that I definitely need to work on! Good job Hannah! :)
ReplyDeleteLogan Choka
A lot of times we are selfish and take all the glory. We should be giving the glory to God in whatever we do. This is awesome Hannah! Great Job! Sam Rykard
ReplyDeleteExcellent post and great reminder of true humility. This is definitely an area I struggle in and I need constant reminders that I could accomplish nothing without the help of God. To Him be the glory!
ReplyDeleteCheers,
The Rev.
I really like this post, because it's so easy to apply to my life. I'm an extremely arrogant and proud individual, and this section reminds me that God gave me these talents so that I could glorify Him - not myself. It's something I need to dwell on every day. Thanks for doing this blog!
ReplyDelete-Sydney McKown
I really struggle with humility sometimes, and this is a great reminder. We all need to remember that all the talents and gifts we have are from God, and we need to recognize him for that. Thanks for sharing :)
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post. We worry about being good and looking good in high school so much. this is a great reminder of who the glory really should go to.
ReplyDeleteHannah,
ReplyDeleteThis post made me think about where I place my glory, sometimes when I do something good I want to take the credit that comes with it, but in the end God is the one who will always deserve the credit!
Julia Robison
I think that we do the same thing in our own worship. People who close their eyes or wave their hands during worship are viewed as more spiritual, so we sometimes put on a façade of hyped-up spirituality to impress our neighbors. This post is a great reminder that we don't worship to seems spiritual, we worship because we want to praise God.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the reminder of why we're here. It's not to do things for our own glory, but it's for God's. Great job!
ReplyDeleteyou did a good job i like how you stressed that is not for our glory but for gods glory that we should do it for. I also like how you gave background on the sabbath for those who dont know a lot about it
ReplyDeleteI really enjoyed reading through your blog. I really like the way that you suggested us putting up something to remind us that we need to glorify God and not are selfs :)
ReplyDeleteThis is an amazing post. Most athletes do their favorite sport doing it for their own glory. But the athletes who do it for God's glory are all amazing players. This reminds me that people can show God's glory through anything
ReplyDeleteAlex Seabeck- I love when you said to surrender it all to God! I know this was a really needed reminder for me to revaluate my motives for playing sports. I also liked how you bolded the word empty because it caught my attention and I read how the Pharisees practiced religion. I got a good reminder that I need to do religious things for good motives, not for the wrong reasons.
ReplyDeleteI really like the blog about giving all the glory to God. I feel that is something that we all struggle with. Its a great connection to all of us. And its just a great reminder to give all the glory to God!
ReplyDelete-Gabbie Jolley
As an artist I like to be proud of my talent, but I have to realize that the reason I can think up these incredible ideas and characters is because God has given me this talent.
ReplyDeleteRyan Mitchell - This is another thing that I struggle with, and it isn't easy. I like that you talked about this also because teenagers struggle with this as well. Everyday before we go to school my parents say do everything unto the Lord but then he says with a giving and joyful heart. Most of the time I feel like that we maybe we do it but then complain or with a hardened heart.
ReplyDeleteYou did a very good job telling us how we should apply our successes to God rather than ourselves. It was well stated and by the way your blogs background and set up was very good.
ReplyDeleteJeremy A. Hoover
Putting things I use for my own glory is a really great idea. I'll be sure to do that. I am usually a visual person and seeing this everyday will be a great reminder. I think this will really help me not take things for my own glory.
ReplyDeleteI like how you said they were doing it for their OWN GLORY, instead of doing it for God. This is another great reminder!
ReplyDeleteknowing that we are supposed to give all the Glory to God is one thing, doing it is another. In our lives it is hard to give all the Glory all the time. We don't always do this. After reading this it, made me realize that I need to give all the Glory to God every day, and not just every now and then!!!
ReplyDeletematt Neff