Made for gladness, made for God
What Does It Mean to Glorify God?
To glorify God is one of those phrases Christians use constantly and rarely stop to define, which is a shame, because it sits at the very center of what a human life is for. Do all to the glory of God, Scripture says, whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do. Everything, to His glory. But what does that actually mean? To glorify something does not mean to make it glorious; you cannot add glory to God any more than you can make the sun brighter. It means to display and delight in a glory that is already there, to reflect it, to make it visible, the way a clear window glorifies the light by letting it shine through. To glorify God is to live in such a way that His goodness, His worth, His beauty become visible through you.
“Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.”1 Corinthians 10:31
“I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore.”Psalm 86:12
“Even every one that is called by my name: for I have created him for my glory, I have formed him; yea, I have made him.”Isaiah 43:7
“Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit; so shall ye be my disciples.”John 15:8
Let's be honest about this
Let us clear away a misunderstanding, because it trips many people. Glorifying God is not about God needing a self-esteem boost from His creatures, nor is it a grim command to constantly grovel and give credit. We already saw that God lacks nothing. To glorify Him is not to fill an emptiness in Him but to align yourself with reality, to give the most glorious Being in existence the recognition and love that simply fit the truth. And here is the freeing part, the thing that ties glory and joy together: you glorify God most when you enjoy Him most. A father is glorified not by children who serve him grudgingly but by children who delight in him. God is shown to be glorious, satisfying, worth everything, precisely when His people find their deepest joy in Him. Glorifying and enjoying God are not two separate duties. They are one thing seen from two sides.
Where the joy actually comes from
So how do you glorify God, concretely? In three joined ways. You glorify Him with your worship, by praising Him and giving Him thanks and ascribing to Him the worth that is His. My soul shall be joyful in the LORD, the psalmist says; I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with all my heart, and I will glorify thy name for evermore. You glorify Him with your life, by living in a way that reflects His character, so that others see your good works and glorify your Father which is in heaven, as Jesus put it. And you glorify Him with your enjoyment, by finding Him so satisfying that your very contentment in Him advertises His worth to a watching world. Herein is my Father glorified, Jesus said, that ye bear much fruit. A life full of the fruit of the Spirit, love, joy, peace, is a life that makes God look like what He is: glorious, and worth building a life on.
Jesus, the joy of the world
And all of this has its center and its power in Jesus. He is the brightness of God's glory, Scripture says, the express image of His person; if you want to see the glory of God, you look at Christ. And He is how we glorify God, because on our own our lives are cloudy windows, but united to Him and filled with His Spirit, we begin to reflect the light. He came to glorify the Father, and He calls us into the same joyful work: to make God's goodness visible with our worship, our lives, and our delight. So to glorify God is not a heavy religious burden. It is to become what you were made to be, a creature so glad in God that your very joy puts His glory on display. Glorify Him, and enjoy Him, and discover that they were the same thing all along, and that both are your everlasting joy.
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Questions people ask
What does it actually mean to glorify God?
To glorify God means to display and delight in a glory that is already His, not to add to it. Like a clear window glorifying the light by letting it shine through, you glorify God by living in a way that makes His goodness, worth, and beauty visible, through your worship, your character, and your joy in Him. Scripture calls us to do everything, even eating and drinking, to the glory of God, meaning all of life can put His worth on display.
How can I glorify God in everyday life?
In three joined ways: with worship, by praising and thanking Him and ascribing worth to Him; with your life, by living so that others see your good works and are drawn to your Father in heaven; and with your enjoyment, by finding God so satisfying that your contentment in Him shows a watching world that He is worth everything. Ordinary work, relationships, and choices, done for Him and reflecting His character, all glorify God.
How are glorifying God and enjoying God connected?
They are two sides of one reality. You glorify God most when you enjoy Him most, because your delight in Him advertises His worth, just as a child's delight honors a good father more than grudging service does. The old catechism joins them: our chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever. Far from being competing duties, glorifying and enjoying God are the same thing seen from two angles, and both are what you were made for.