To Him Be Glory

And the Lord will deliver me from every evil work and preserve me for His heavenly kingdom. To Him be glory forever and ever. Amen! 

II Timothy 4:18 

‘To God be the glory, great things He has done.’ Our chief purpose in life is to glorify God. As Paul comes to the close of his earthly journey, he offers praise to Christ Who would deliver him from every evil work and preserve him for His heavenly kingdom. In the Psalms we read, ‘whoso offers praise glorifies me.’ Therefore, by praising God, Paul was glorifying Him in the final days of his earthly life. This was not the only way in which Paul was glorifying God. He had written earlier, ‘whether therefore you eat or drink or whatsoever you do, do all to the glory of God.’ This expands the opportunity to glorify God into a practically limitless sphere. What was available to Paul, as the means of glorifying God, is also available to us. This elevates the most mundane of our activities to having the potential for being means by which we may glorify God and magnify Christ. Our everyday employments and interactions with others become opportunities for us to make much of Christ by imitating Him. This gives purpose to our most common, daily activities. By these, we may say through our actions, ‘To Him be glory forever and ever, Amen.’ 

Our All-Powerful and All-Wise God, 
we rejoice at the privilege you have  
bestowed upon us to glorify You. 
We praise You that day-by-day, 
in thought, word and deed, 
we can glorify You and exalt Christ. 

Tomm Tice
Where the Bush is Burning