Jesus prayed to the Father, “I have glorified You on the earth, having accomplished the work which You have given Me to do” (John 17:4). Likewise, since Christians “have been bought with a price,” they must “glorify God in [their] body” (1 Corinthians 6:20).
How do we glorify God? People may invent many different ways to try and glorify God. But instead of doing what we think will glorify God, we should look to Jesus – our perfect example (1 Peter 2:21). How did Jesus glorify God? He “accomplished the work” which was “given [Him] to do” (John 17:4).
We glorify God by doing what He intends for us to do. The wise man summed up God’s intention for us in this statement: “Fear God and keep His commandments, because this applies to every person” (Ecclesiastes 12:13).
God’s intention for Christians is that “whatever [we] do in word or deed,” we must “do all in the name of the Lord Jesus” (Colossians 3:17). This does not mean we invent our own ways to glorify God and claim that we are doing them in the name of Christ. Those who do this will be condemned (Matthew 7:22-23). Jesus said that by doing this, they are not glorifying God, but rather are practicing lawlessness.
We glorify God by doing His will. His will has been revealed in Scripture (1 Corinthians 2:10-13). Doing these things not only brings glory to God (Matthew 5:16), but will also result in our eternal reward from Him (Matthew 7:21).
Thanks for this — it’s such a concise definition of what it means to glorify God. I think I “knew” what it meant, but just couldn’t put it into words — at least not words that I was “sure” of. The world’s (and some Christians’) inference seems to be something mystical or feelings-producing instead of something so tangibly concrete like obedience.