Who Gets the Glory Today?

I have spent a lot of time wondering what to write next, and feel I should just stick with the facts. My kids used to say, "Everything isn't about God, Mom," but in reality...it really is. To have an understanding of Christmas, one has to understand why there ever was a need for Christ's birth, and how God's plan for eternal life for all mankind came into being. I hope this gives you a better understanding of God, the Father of all creation.

The Westminster Confession of Faith, was drawn up by a group of theologians way back in 1646, to provide clarity on issues of doctrine, worship, government and discipline of the Church of England. They state: "Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever." I love how that rolls off the tongue. I would love to take the time and put the support in my own words, but alas, someone has beaten me to it and he has done a great job, I hope you get understanding of why, "It's ALL about God." (This is from a Mr. Watson.) I'm going to give it to you in small amounts because it can be overwhelming if you aren't a seminary student, who craves this history, and I just think it gives you time to digest the importance of each topic. ENJOY!

"Here are two ends of life specified. 1. The glorifying of God. 2. The enjoying of God.

First. The glorifying of God, 1 Pet. 4:11. "That God in all things may be glorified." The glory of God is a silver thread which must run through all our actions. l Cor. 10:31. "Whether therefore ye eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." Everything works to some end in things natural and artificial; now, man being a rational creature, must propose some end to himself, and that should be, that he may lift up God in the world. He had better lose his life than the end of his living. The great truth asserted is that the end of every man's living should be to glorify God. Glorifying God has respect to all the persons in the Trinity; it respects God the Father who gave us life; God the Son, who lost his life for us; and God the Holy Ghost, who produces a new life in us; we must bring glory to the whole Trinity.

When we speak of God's glory, the question will be moved, What are to understand by God's glory?

Answer. There is a twofold glory: 1. The glory that God has in himself, his intrinsic glory. Glory is essential to the Godhead, as light is to the sun: he is called the "God of glory." Acts 7:2. Glory is the sparkling of the Deity; it is so co-natural to the Godhead, that God cannot be God without it. The creature's honour is not essential to his being. A king is a man without his regal ornaments, when his crown and royal robes are taken away; but God's glory is such an essential part of his being, that he cannot be God without it. God's very life lies in his glory. This glory can receive no addition, because it is infinite; it is that which God is most tender of, and which he will not part with. Isa. 48:11, "My glory I will not give to another." God will give temporal blessings to his children, such as wisdom, riches, honour; he will give them spiritual blessings, he will give them grace, he will give them his love, he will give them heaven; but his essential glory he will not give to another. King Pharaoh parted with a ring off his finger to Joseph, and a gold chain, but he would not part with his throne. Gen. 41:40. "Only in the throne will I be greater than thou." So God will do much for his people; he will give them the inheritance; he will put some of Christ's glory, as mediator upon them; but his essential glory he will not part with; "in the throne he will be greater."

2. The glory which is ascribed to God, or which his creatures labour to bring to him. 1 Chron. 16:29, "Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name." And, 1 Cor. 6:20, "Glorify God in your body, and in your spirit." The glory we give God is nothing else but our lifting up his name in the world, and magnifying him in the eyes of others. Phil. 1:20, "Christ shall be magnified in my body."

Maybe this is where we God-followers* fall short right from the get-go. Who are we magnifying? Ourselves or God? And are we glorifying God in our bodies and spirits?

*I use the word "God-follower," because we have to realize first that there is but one Creator and Lover of our souls. Everything else just falls into place after that.