Giving God Glory: Taking The Cross, Triumph Over The Grave

​Whatever you do, do it all for the Glory of God.

Giving God Glory
​Romans 15:5-11

Jesus' request as He looked to the Cross was that He might glorify His Father. (John 17:1)

That is to be the desire of our hearts as well. When we wake each morning, as the day unfolds, as news of tragedy or success reaches us, our request is to be, "Father, glorify Yourself." In the simplest tasks and in the hardest ones, a Christian's longing should be that God is glorified.

When we pray for His glorification, we're asking, "God, do whatever will bring You the greatest honor and make You known." It means that we are also surrendering what we want the outcome to be. God in His sovereignty will choose what will bring honor to His name. And whatever happens, we are to believe He has done just that.

We live in a world that refuses to give the Lord the honor and praise due His name. People reject the Son and refuse to believe. But God's glory continues, for His glory is the perfection of His character, which never changes.

God calls us to praise His name. We cannot add to His glory, but we can proclaim it, and we can reveal it. We honor Him as we worship in our churches, as we testify to His work in our lives, and as we proclaim the truth of His Holy Word in our communities.

By our attitudes, actions, and word, we have the privilege of revealing our loving Father to a world that, though hostile, desperately needs Him. Let us join together, united in love, to give Him the glory.

​Taking The Cross
​Matthew 10:1-7, 24-29

The cross. We see it today as the rough, wooden instrument of death for Jesus Christ.

But before His followers had even a faint idea that Jesus would die that way, He spoke of the cross. As He stood near the Sea of Galilee preparing the disciples to reach "the lost sheep of the house of Israel:(Mt. 10:6), Jesus told them, "He who does not take his cross and follow after Me is not worthy of Me."

The men didn't associate the cross with Jesus' approaching death, but they knew what a cross signified. Crucifixions were a common method of execution. The disciples had a vivid picture of the agony, punishment, and misery that a cross represented. Taking a cross meant walking life's toughest road.

So why was Jesus promoting cross-bearing? Because He wanted disciples who were willing to face the difficulties it would take to serve His cause. Soon Jesus would be killed, and His disciples would have to carry on His message alone. To stand against the forces that would seek to quiet the gospel would take total commitment.

That's still our challenge today. Are we willing to take the cross and serve Christ in self-denial? The task is great but it's eternally rewarding.

After all that Christ has done for us, how can we do less that give Him our best?

​Triumph Over The Grave
​John 11:25-44

Death may steal from us the ones we love, but for followers of Christ the separation is only temporary. The resurrection of Jesus assures us that just as death could not hold Him, so too the tomb cannot cling to the children, parents, friends, and companions who have died before us. Christ's resurrection is the foundation of our hope.

American Evangelist D.L. Moody (1837-1899) told of a soldier at the battle of Inkerman (Crimean War, 1854) who was somehow able to crawl back to his tent after he was shot. When he was later found, he was lying face down, his open Bible before him, his hand stuck to one of the pages by his blood which covered it. When his hand was lifted, some of the words from the printed page were clearly visible on it. The verse was this: "I am the resurrection and the life. He who believes in Me, though he may die, he shall live." (Jn. 11:25) Said Moody, "I want religion like that, which can comfort even in death, and can unite me with my loved ones, What gloom and darkness would settle upon this world were it not for the glorious doctrine of the resurrection!"

If you are grieving, find your comfort in this: Because Jesus lives, we shall live also!

The resurrection is God's answer of hope to man's cry of despair!