Jonathan Munson, Executive Director

“We, who were first to put our hope in Christ, might be for the praise of His glory.” Ephesians 1:12

Imagine your employer sends you on a business trip to Chicago. 

While you’re in town, you’re to finalize three deals with respective clients. 

Sounds simple enough…

However, when you arrive, instead of going to your first meeting, you decide to see all that Chicago has to offer. For the next two days, you neglect your responsibilities and go on a few fun excursions: a ballgame at Wrigley Field, see the views from the Willis Tower Skydeck, take a stroll along the Riverwalk, etc. You have an absolute blast! But soon, it’s time to go home. As you head to the airport, you think, “Chicago is such a fantastic city. I’m glad I came.”

There’s just one problem… 

You didn’t come to Chicago to sightsee. This was a business trip.

Somehow, the purpose of the trip was lost on you. Not only did you neglect what you were supposed to do, but you also forgot why you were there in the first place.

This silly little story illustrates what happens to many of us in the Christian life.

We become so wrapped up in the experiences and pleasures of this world that we forget why we’re here. To put it bluntly, we are not here for ourselves. God created us for “the praise of His glory.” Paul repeats this potent phrase three times in the first chapter of Ephesians:

• “To the praise of His glorious grace” (1:6)

• “To the praise of His glory” (1:12)

• “To the praise of His glory” (1:14)

I think he wants us to get the message, don’t you?

When Christ saves us, everything changes. We are “forgiven,” “redeemed,” “adopted,” and “sealed with His Holy Spirit” (Ephesians 1:4-14). We’re also given a brand-new purpose for living: to glorify God. When “glorifying God” truly gets hold of our hearts, it completely reorients the reason we get out of bed each morning. Life is no longer about us; it’s about Him. We are a trophy of His grace, meant to display to the world that “God made us alive in Christ Jesus” (Ephesians 2:5). Everything else is secondary.

Consequently, we can’t go on coasting through life, oblivious to the “good works that God has prepared in advance for us to do” (Ephesians 2:10). We’re here on a mission. Sent on Kingdom business. We’re “Christ’s ambassadors” (2 Corinthians 5:20), representing Him wherever we go. Our time, our talents, our relationships, our energy, our financial resources, and so on- everything we are and everything we have becomes a means of bringing Him praise.

Living for the “praise of His glory” doesn’t mean we have to go be a missionary in the jungle somewhere (unless that’s what God calls us to do). We can glorify God in our regular, day-to-day lives. Whether we’re bankers, builders, teachers, stay-at-home moms, in sales, chefs, or whatever…we seek to reflect His character in all we say and do.   

Even though you probably agree with what I’m saying, it’s incredibly easy for us to lose sight of our true purpose, isn’t it?

Bit by bit, we treat the ‘business trip’ of life more like a vacation. Temptations and distractions abound. We inadvertently get preoccupied with ourselves or our families and slowly start living for lesser things.  Oh, how we need constant reminders to remember the real reason we’re here!

Consider writing this phrase on a card: “I’m doing this for the praise of His glory.” Put it on a mirror, your dashboard, or set it as the screensaver on your phone – someplace where you’ll see it numerous times a day.

Let it serve as a continual reminder of why you exist and why you’re doing what you do.

Look, on some levels, this illustration breaks down. Life is much more than a ‘business trip’, and God isn’t exactly our employer. I get it.

But we must not be deceived either. One day, each of our ‘trips’ will come to an end. We’ll stand before Almighty God and give an account of how we lived and what we did with what He gave us (2 Corinthians 5:10, Matthew 25:14-30).

So, don’t just drift through life ignoring why you’re here.

He saved you for the “praise of His glory.”

Make your life count for Him!

“When you realize God’s purpose for your life isn’t just about you, He will use you in a mighty way.”                          
-Tony Evans

DIG DEEPER
Read “Do You Know Why You’re Here?” by Bryant Wright