I wrote last night about having God be the end of what we do. As I thought about it after I wrote the blog, I realized that there was a lot left out that needed to be said. I desire to correct that tonight in considering a verse of Scripture I’ve found to be one that I need to take into mind. 1 Cor. 10:31 has been a favorite verse for awhile for me and oddly, one I don’t see Christians citing as one of their favorites. The text reads as follows:
So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
This is interesting in that Paul is talking about righteousness in the face of the question of meat offered to idols. Notice what actions he’s not talking about though. He’s not talking about prayer. He’s not talking about Scripture study. He’s not talking about evangelism. He’s not talking about fasting.
He’s talking about the day to day activity of eating and drinking.
What he means then is what is said in the last part, whatever you do, do it for the glory of God. The problem with us as Christians though is we tend to look at it as only referring to the “spiritual” activities. Have we not considered so much more is to the glory of God? You can surf the net to God’s glory. You can enjoy a movie or TV program or sporting event. You can hang out with friends. You can be dating. You can be making love to your spouse. All of these can be to the glory of God.
Let’s take the realm of science as an example. Louis Pasteur said “Science brings men nearer to God,” and “The more I study nature, the more I stand amazed at the work of the creator.” I’m not a scientist, but I can understand what he’s saying. When I see something about DNA or go look at a picture of Olympus Mons on Mars, I’m just moved. Something in me screams at the awesome grandeur of what I am seeing.
The old scientists saw their science as doing that. They believed that the universe was created by a rational creator and therefore, his creation would be rational. If they studied it, they could learn more about him, and that is what they desired to do. Of course, not all of them were like this, but a striking number in the past were.
These men saw their exploring the natural world as giving glory to God and the more they found, the more they found him glorious. They wanted knowledge, true, but not just knowledge. They wanted that knowledge to be a light to guide them to truth. As a theologian, I can confess that the more wonder I find out about the concept of God, the more I am amazed. He’s so much greater than the concept I had when I was a young boy in Sunday School.
Consider the arts also. Many musicians wrote great pieces of music in praise to Jesus Christ. They wanted to make good music of course, but they wanted that music to be a testimony to the one that they loved. (Or rather, that they love.) When the applause came, the composers wanted it directed more to the grand composer of the symphony of life than to them.
In Religulous, Bill Maher asks a priest outside the Vatican what Christ would think of a huge building like that. Maher needs to realize this is the same one who described a majestic temple. There was a day and age when churches were designed to be places of holiness. You went in and were dwarfed immediately by what you saw and you had an idea of the holy then. The place was not big for the sake of being big. It was big because it was to show how big God is. It’s majesty and grandeur was to put the person who entered into the mindset of worship in realizing who he is and who the God he serves is.
Other artwork has been done for the glory of God. How many paintings and statues have been done in order to bring praise to the creator? Indeed, Christ never did write music or books or poetry or paint or do sculptures, but he’s impacted the arts more than any other person in that now, so many works are done about him. I would even argue that many of our modern superheroes to an extent are made to reflect Christ and I argue that they truly are superheroes only when they reflect Christ.
There are countless fields I could go into, but I think you get the point. Chances are, you know your field a lot better than I do. Whatever it is, do it for the glory of God. Be the best at it that you can be for his glory. If you’re a lawyer, be the best one you can be. If you’re a builder, build to his glory. If you’re a doctor, model the great physician. If you’re a teacher, model the great teacher. If you’re a chef, cook as if you were serving that meal to Christ.
Whatsoever you do, do it to his glory. Pray I’ll do the same.
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