Glorifying God (no matter what)

Verse: Philippians 1:19-20
Yes, and I will continue to rejoice, 19 for I know that through your prayers and God’s provision of the Spirit of Jesus Christ what has happened to me will turn out for my deliverance. 20 I eagerly expect and hope that I will in no way be ashamed, but will have sufficient courage so that now as always Christ will be exalted in my body, whether by life or by death.

Devotion
Do you find it easier to glorify God with your life when things are going well, or when things are going poorly? Sometimes when things are going well we tend to forget him, only reaching out to him when things start to go sideways. On the other hand, when things are going poorly, we can tend to get angry and frustrated with him, thus pushing him away again. Which is it for you?

Paul’s writing this letter from prison, and scholars are always amazed at how often he talks about rejoicing. It shows that faith in Jesus lifts us above our circumstances. In this passage we get a glimpse as to Paul’s faith and his priorities.

If I were to summarize this passage, he basically says, “God is going to deliver me from this situation and he is going to use it for good. But even if he doesn’t my prayer is that I will glorify him. I pray that I’ll glorify him if things go well, or if things go poorly, even if they end up killing me.”

The main thing isn’t his deliverance. The main thing isn’t his comfort. The main thing isn’t even his life! (This is hard to even relate to for me.) The main thing is that Christ is exalted by his words and actions regardless of whether things go well or poorly.

I want that to be my prayer too. If things are going my way, great! I want to glorify God. If nothing is going my way, that’s so hard – but I want to glorify God. If I’m rejoicing, I want to exalt him! If I’m grieving, I want to exalt him. This is so hard, I know. I’m not saying it’s easy. But it’s important for at least two reasons:

1. Once we become followers of Jesus our lives are not our own anymore. We belong to him. The main thing is lifting him up, obeying him, making his name known, and serving him.
2. In this kind of life there is a gift: That we can walk with him no matter what we are going through and he is faithful to stay by our sides, strengthen us, comfort us, and fill us with his love.

Author: Christian Dunn