A Day to Give God the Glory!

-



Scripture

And immediately an angel of the Lord struck him because he did not give God the glory, and he was eaten by worms and died.
(Acts 12:23 NASB)

 

Observation


This simple little verse tells us the end of Herod's life. He wanted to believe that he was more powerful than God and he wanted to take the credit for the things he had accomplished. God had enough, and Herod dies an ugly death.

 

Application


Today is a special day in my life and I want to give God the glory! In just a couple of hours I will head to the famous Whitworth Hall at the University of Manchester where I have the privilege of participating in the graduation ceremonies, officially receiving my Ph.D. The journey here has been very long and arduous, and to be quite honest, I don't have the personal skill or ability to have completed this degree. However, I do believe that "with God all things are possible!"

It has been a six year journey that has brought me to this day. Actually, it's many, many more years than that but we'll just think about this last leg. The reason I have to give God the glory today is that the way God has shaped me and formed me in the last six years as a result of my study has been beyond anything I would have ever imagined. People used to ask me why I was doing this and what I was going to do with it when I was finished. Even at that point I didn't really have an answer because it's always been more about the journey than about the destination.

I have been blessed with the chance to have an intense study of holiness and to get to know two families from the fourth century who struggled with what it meant to live the holy life. Sometimes they were successful and sometimes they weren't, but they taught me about perseverance, about the journey, about giving praise to God, and about the fact that when I unite myself with an infinite God the journey will never, ever come to an end.

Today is just a marker along the road of the journey that leads into an ever more intimate relationship with God. Today I get to celebrate, but it's not about me -- it's all about him! I give God the praise and the thanks and the glory!

 

Prayer


Lord, thank you! Amen.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Take Off Your Ornaments

-
Scripture: Ex. 33:4 ¶ When the people heard these harsh words, they mourned, and no one put on ornaments. Ex. 33:5 For the LORD had said to Moses, “Say to the Israelites, ‘You are a stiff-necked people; if for a single moment I should go up among you, I would consume you. So now take off your ornaments, and I will decide what to do to you.’” Ex. 33:6 Therefore the Israelites stripped themselves of their ornaments, from Mount Horeb onward. Observation: The people had sinned before God by making and worshiping the golden calf!  They had taken their golden jewelry — the earrings and other items they had gotten from the Egyptians and used them to create an idol.  Now, in an act of humility and repentance they were to take off all of their jewelry and ornaments.  It was a time of mourning over their sin and it included intentional action on the part of the Israelites.  Application: We don’t do all that well with humility and repentance!  It seems that we live in a time when we try to carry
Read more

Does God Value Boys More than Girls?

-
Scripture: Lev. 12:1 ¶ The LORD spoke to Moses, saying: Lev. 12:2 Speak to the people of Israel, saying: ¶ If a woman conceives and bears a male child, she shall be ceremonially unclean seven days; as at the time of her menstruation, she shall be unclean. Lev. 12:3 On the eighth day the flesh of his foreskin shall be circumcised. Lev. 12:4 Her time of blood purification shall be thirty-three days; she shall not touch any holy thing, or come into the sanctuary, until the days of her purification are completed. Lev. 12:5 If she bears a female child, she shall be unclean two weeks, as in her menstruation; her time of blood purification shall be sixty-six days. Lev. 12:6 ¶ When the days of her purification are completed, whether for a son or for a daughter, she shall bring to the priest at the entrance of the tent of meeting a lamb in its first year for a burnt offering, and a pigeon or a turtledove for a sin offering. Lev. 12:7 He shall offer it before the LORD, and make atonement on her
Read more

The Advantage of Sanctification

-
Scripture: Rom. 6:22 But now that you have been freed from sin and enslaved to God, the advantage you get is sanctification. The end is eternal life. Rom. 6:23 For the wages of sin is death, but the free gift of God is eternal life in Christ Jesus our Lord. Observation: Two sides of life are presented here in great contrast.  One is a life of sin and enslavement to evil.  The other side of life is freedom which provides the advantage of sanctification (or holiness as some translate the word) that leads to eternal life.  The options here are a life of sin, slavery and death; or freedom, holiness and eternal life.  The advantage of holiness or sanctification is the benefit of the life of freedom.  Jesus died so that we might be made holy like him and this is something that is offered as a “fruit” or “advantage” right now.  The end is eternal life — but the living of life is that it can be lived out in holiness.  The next verse is really just an affirmation of the verse 22.  Sin will lead
Read more