Glory: The Giving of Honor and Admiration
1 Corinthians 10:31 states clearly, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” This scripture addresses what we are allowed and not allowed to do. Paul succinctly sums it up: whatever we do, we should do it for God’s glory.
This implies that if you’re acting out of a sense of freedom—thinking, “I’m doing it because I can”—or for pleasure—”I’m doing it because it feels good”—or because it falls into a gray area with no clear answer to whether you should or shouldn’t do it, then if these actions are not for the glory of God, they are ultimately directed towards the glory of someone else. Our natural tendency is to seek glory for ourselves, and we need to guard against this tendency, as it is rooted in pride (Proverbs 16:18).
Meditate on Matthew 6:3-4:
3 “But when you give to the needy, do not let your left hand know what your right hand is doing,
4 so that your giving may be in secret. And your Father who sees in secret will reward you.”
Who gets the glory? There should be no drawing attention to oneself, but rather giving unto the Lord. I recall the story of an aspiring pastor who worked on the church’s grounds crew. He knew that the pastors would meet weekly in a specific room, so he made sure to work hard outside their window to gain their attention. Was it for God’s glory or for man’s glory? Whatever you do, do all for the glory of God! This is an essential part of our journey.
I know I have matured in this area a lot. For the 21 years I was on active duty I did many things to build myself up, especially to get noticed. I wanted the promotions and I want the awards. Now, my focus is on doing things to glorify God and I know there is an ultimate award that I will receive someday.
It’s natural for us to desire attention and admiration. Everyone wants to be loved, or at least liked, by others. But this desire can easily become an obsession, or an “idol”. It’s interesting how when this becomes an obsession, it has the inverse effect. We all have known someone who tried way too hard to be liked. It is usually quite obvious and often downright annoying. Yet when I think about some of the people I admire most, it’s the people who seem to be following Paul’s advice from 1 Corinthians. The ones who strive to glorify God rather than themselves end up glorified in others eyes. This is just another example of scripture and science (or psychology) aligning. Sin is unattractive and harmful, and vice versa.
I think people try to hard and we live in a world of constant praise… We teach this from a very early age. Give our kids rewards for everything. Participation rewards in schools. We look for the pat on the back. We crave it. It’s hard wired in are culture.. Social Media.. How many likes did you get? Who commented on your post? We all want to be liked in one way or another.. a sense of belonging… Pride..
It activates the reward center in the brain, releasing dopamine which creates a feeling of happiness and satisfaction essentially it’s a social reward that validates our self-worth making us feel recognized accepted and appreciated by others especially when it comes from people we value.
It is seen a lot when people climb the corporate ladder. “Self gratification” Or “look what I did”.It’s a very fine line..We have to be careful that not doing things for the wrong reasons.
Colossians 3:23-25 NIV
[23] Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for “human masters” [24] since you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as a reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving. [25] Anyone who does wrong will be repaid for their wrongs, and there is no favoritism.