Written by Pastor Jack Wellman– Matthew 5:16
For His Glory
The psalmist wrote, “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork” (Psalm 19:1), so we know that the creation glorifies God. But since we are part of God’s creation, we were made to glorify God too, just as Isaiah the Prophet wrote, “Everyone who is called by my name, whom I created for my glory, whom I formed and made” (Isaiah 43:7). The first point is that everything that’s created is intended to glorify God, which includes us.
Created for Glorifying Works
We are created to do good works to glorify God. The Apostle Paul wrote that “we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God prepared beforehand, that we should walk in them” (Ephesians 2:10). Imagine that. God created us; but before we existed, He planned good works for us to do after we would be saved. That’s our purpose for being created: glorifying God. Now we just have to find out what these good works are and then walk in them (or do them).
For the Lost
The believer’s light is to shine so intently that we point people to Jesus Christ, and our love and good works are intended to bring praise to your “Father in heaven,” just as Jesus said in Matthew 5:16. It is “even as he chose us in him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and blameless before him. In love” (Ephesians 1:4); and in this, God “predestined us for adoption as sons through Jesus Christ, according to the purpose of his will, to the praise of his glorious grace, with which he has blessed us in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:5-6).
Conclusion
If we take responsibility for trying to glorify God in our lives by walking in good works that God has set before us, we can be a witness for Jesus Christ. And it will be just as Jesus said: “Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good deeds and praise your Father in heaven” (Matthew 5:16).
