Let them give glory unto the Lord… – Isaiah 42:12, KJV

We often make things more complicated than they really are.

Take, for example, the idea of glorifying God. If you were to ask the average Christian what it means to glorify God, the average Christian would either: a) give you the proverbial “deer-in-the-headlights look,” followed by an obligatory, “I don’t know,” or b) give you some long, theological answer that you can’t understand unless you’ve had formal theological training. The irony of it all is that, just like the Gospel is simple enough for a child to understand, so is the idea of glorifying God.

During a recent children’s church lesson, I asked the kids what they thought about the following two scenarios.

1. You’re in a grocery store on the cookie aisle, and a mother turns into the aisle with her three-year old son. The son asks his mother for a package of cookies, and when she tells him “No,” the child throws a temper tantrum that everyone in the store can hear.

2. You’re in a grocery store on the cookie aisle, and a mother turns into the aisle with her three-year old son. The son asks his mother for a package of cookies, and when she tells him “No,” the child obediently replies “Yes, ma’am,” and things between mother and son are sweet and calm.

When I asked the children to tell me what they thought of the mother in scenario # 1, the responses all boiled down to this: the mother wasn’t a very good mother because she hadn’t taught her boy how to behave. When I asked the children the same question about scenario # 2, the responses were the opposite: the mother was a very good mother because she had trained her son how to behave.

Like it or not, rightly or wrongly, the fact is that children bring either shame or glory (praise, honor, distinction) to their parents by the way they behave. And, like it or not, rightly or wrongly, we bring shame or glory (praise, honor, distinction) to God by the way we behave. Many unsaved people have turned away from Christianity because they have watched how pathetic Christians in their worlds have behaved. Witnessing nothing but pettiness, selfishness, and conniving from such “Christians,” these unsaved have turned away from God because they have seen no value in a faith that produces people of such unattractive character. On the other hand, many unsaved people have turned to Christianity because they have watched how obedient Christians in their worlds have behaved. Witnessing humility, selflessness, and love in such Christians, these unsaved have turned to God because they have seen value in a faith that transforms repugnant human beings into people of virtue.

The reason why 1 Corinthians 10:31 tells us to glorify God in “whatsoever we do” is because people are watching us in everything we do.The question is, when others are watching you, do they see the kid throwing the temper tantrum, or do they see the obedient child who says, “I will obey with a good heart!”?

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