By Bill Starr

What do we believe?

We believe that a Christian is called to do everything to the glory of God, to make disciples of all nations, to pursue love and do good to everyone, to be a faithful steward of all that God has entrusted to him/her, and to obey the Word of God in all matters of faith and life.

Why do we believe this?

1 Peter 4:11 – whoever speaks, as one who speaks oracles of God; whoever serves, as one who serves by the strength that God supplies—in order that in everything God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. To him belong glory and dominion forever and ever. Amen.

Why does it matter?

In this text Peter is talking about spiritual gifts.  There are two kinds of gifts – speaking gifts and serving gifts. If you have a gift of speaking, Peter exhorts us to that when we open our mouth to speak; we need to speak the word of God. We are to speak God’s truth, not our own ideas. The emphasis is on using your speaking gift to declare the Word of God. If you have serving gift, you are to exercise it by the strength which God supplies. You must be energized by the Holy Spirit, walking in the Spirit so you are not serving in the power of the flesh.

Look at the intention of having these gifts – it is to bring glory to God. What then is the intention of all that we do? What is the intention of our holiness, the intention of our love, and the intention of our service? That God may be glorified through Jesus Christ. Remember I Corinthians 10:31 echoes these same thoughts when Paul tells us that “whatever I do whether I eat or drink, I want to do all to the glory of God!”

Think about it – everything I do, from the significant to the insignificant is to be done with excellence so that God can receive the glory. All glory and dominion belongs to Jesus and I honor him when I carry out my life in a manner that exalts him. To do big, important things with excellence is not very difficult.  The difficulty is in making sure that I am doing them to bring glory to God and not to myself. As an example, do you plan your daughter’s wedding so it honors you as a great parent and event planner or do you plan it so God gets the glory?

To do all things, even the routine things, with an eye to magnifying and exalting the name of Jesus is not so easy. How do I get up in the morning in a way that brings glory to God? How do I interact with my neighbors in a way that brings glory to God? Cut the grass? Wash the clothes? Work at my job? Participate in Worship on Sunday morning? Discipline my children?

The text tells us that Jesus is owed all glory forever and ever. What can you do today to honor him in some of the mundane areas of life?