Perhaps you have heard the phrase, “only for the glory of God.” This is a theme that runs through the entire Bible, that all of creation exists for His glory. If this is true, then God created your family to glorify Him. But what exactly is “the glory of God?”
We see God’s glory in the desert after He brought His people out of Egypt. “When Moses went up on the mountain, the cloud covered it, and the glory of the Lord settled on top of the mountain … the glory of the Lord looked like a consuming fire on top of the mountain” (Exodus 24:15-17). On Christmas night, the glory of the Lord appears again. “And in the same region there were shepherds out in the field…and an angel of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were filled with great fear” (Luke 2:8-9).
In Exodus, the glory of the Lord was like a fire. In Bethlehem, it was a light that shone all around. But it would be incorrect to say that the fire was God, or that the light was God. Rather, the fire and the light pointed to the reality of God. They highlighted His presence and His power. In the same way, the shepherds, after they had seen Jesus “returned, glorifying and praising God for all they had seen and heard.”
To glorify something is to highlight it, to point to it, to reveal its power and reality. Or in less formal language, to glorify something is to make it look good!
So let’s put this all together. God created your family to glorify Him! What does that mean? God created your family to highlight Him, to point to Him, and to reveal His power and reality. Your family exists to make God look good! We can press this mission and vision into everything we do in our homes.
- How can we parent in this situation in a way that will make God look good?
- How can we handle this conflict with our spouse that will make God look good?
- How can we handle our family finances in a way that will make God look good?
- How can I do this chore or house project to make God look good?
In fact, everything we do can highlight, point to, and reveal the love and power of God. God tells us in 1 Corinthians 10:31, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”
This is a journey of grace, for “all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God” (Romans 3:23). Because of our ongoing struggle with sin, we fall short in doing what we were created to do – highlighting, pointing to, and revealing the true nature of our Creator.
Talk about these Scriptures as a family. Explain to your children what it means to “glorify God,” rather than leave it out there as some churchy, religious phrase that your children may hear but don’t understand. Then pray, daily, for God to use your family to glorify Him, to make Him look good, beginning in your home, then overflowing in your neighborhood and to the ends of the earth.