This business of giving glory to God

WHY do we have to give glory to God? Isn’t it egoistic on his part to command us to do so? Did he just create us to use us to give him glory?

These are questions that can come to mind when we are reminded of our duty to give glory to God in everything that we do. In a sense, these questions are understandable for us to ask. If we look at this duty from a purely human point of view, that reaction can easily come out.

But these questions should also lead us to ask more deeply why we have such duty. It is most likely that we are missing something. We may be failing to see the over-all picture.

True enough. If we look at this duty from the point of view of our Christian faith, then we can understand why we have such duty. And that is because if we abide by our faith that we have been created in God’s image and likeness, meant to be sharers of God’s life and nature, then everything we do should be an expression of glorifying God, our Father and Creator, from whom we should never dare to separate ourselves.

We are reminded of this truth of our faith when in the gospel of 7th Sunday of Easter, Year A, which falls this year on May 21, (cfr. Jn 17,1-11a), we see Christ who is the pattern of our humanity, the savior of our damaged humanity, glorifying God the Father.

“Give glory to your son, so that your son may glorify you,” he said, “just as you gave him authority over all people, so that your son may give eternal life to all you gave him.” (Jn 17,1-2)

If we believe that Christ is “the way, the truth and the life” for us, then the relation he has with God the Father and what he does to the Father should also be our relation with God and what we do with him, that is, to glorify God just as Christ glorifies the Father.

Thus, we should always give glory to God. This should be the basic principle to follow in all our thoughts and intentions, our plans and desires, and our actions from the most hidden and personal ones to the most social and global.

Everything comes from him. Everything belongs to him. He is the source of all truth and goodness, the author of the ultimate reality. He should always be in our mind and heart, the beginning and end for everything in our life. Outside of this loop, we would be creating our own ivory tower, our own bubble, our own silo.

That is why St. Paul repeatedly made these reminders: “Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, for the Lord and not for men, because you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as your reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.” (Col 3,23-24)

In another occasion, he said: “Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.” (1 Cor 10,31) And still another: “Whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through him.” (Col 3,17)

We need to train ourselves to make God the beginning and end, the Alpha and Omega, of all our thoughts, words and deeds. We need to rectify our intentions and keep that rectitude all the way to the consummation of those intentions.