What does it mean to make God’s glory my top priority?

I understand that Christian theology emphasizes glorifying God. However, I’m struggling to translate that concept into concrete actions and a consistent mindset in my daily life. It feels abstract. So, what does it actually mean, in practical, tangible terms, to make God’s glory my top priority? I’m not just looking for a definition, but examples of how this prioritization manifests in different areas like my career choices, personal relationships, financial decisions, leisure activities, and even my thought processes. How can I discern if a decision is truly glorifying God or if I’m just rationalizing my own desires? Are there specific frameworks or questions I can use to evaluate my actions and motivations through the lens of God’s glory? And how does this differ from simply being a "good" person or following religious rules? Finally, is there a danger in focusing too much on "glory" and potentially becoming self-righteous or performance-driven in my faith?

Answer

Making God’s glory your top priority means centering your life around honoring, reflecting, and magnifying the character and nature of God in everything you do, think, and say. It is a commitment to living in a way that brings Him the greatest possible honor and recognition. It involves a radical shift in perspective, moving away from self-centeredness and toward a God-centered worldview.

Here are some specific ways this manifests:

• Motivations and Desires: Your deepest desires shift to align with God’s will and purposes. Success isn’t measured by personal achievement but by whether it glorifies God. Actions are driven by a desire to please Him rather than personal gain, recognition, or comfort. The question shifts from "What do I want?" to "What would honor God?"

• Moral and Ethical Choices: Decisions are made based on biblical principles and a desire to reflect God’s holiness, justice, love, and mercy. This includes honesty, integrity, compassion, and a commitment to treating others with respect and dignity. It entails actively pursuing righteousness and avoiding anything that would dishonor God’s name.

• Relationships: You strive to love others as God loves them, extending grace, forgiveness, and compassion. Relationships are viewed as opportunities to reflect God’s love and build up others in their faith. Conflicts are approached with humility and a desire for reconciliation, seeking to reflect God’s character in your interactions.

• Use of Resources: Time, talents, and possessions are viewed as gifts from God to be used for His purposes. This includes generous giving, serving others, and stewarding resources responsibly. Material wealth is not sought for its own sake but as a means to further God’s kingdom and bless others.

• Worship and Prayer: Worship becomes more than just a religious ritual; it becomes a heartfelt expression of adoration and gratitude to God. Prayer is not just a means of asking for things but a communion with God, seeking His guidance and aligning your will with His. It includes praising Him for His attributes, acknowledging His sovereignty, and submitting to His will.

• Speech and Actions: Words and actions are carefully considered, seeking to speak the truth in love and to conduct yourself in a way that reflects God’s character. This includes avoiding gossip, slander, and offensive language and instead using your words to encourage, uplift, and edify others. Actions should be consistent with your faith and a testimony to God’s grace.

• Response to Suffering: Even in the midst of trials and suffering, you seek to glorify God by trusting in His sovereignty, maintaining a positive attitude, and using your experiences to minister to others. Suffering is viewed as an opportunity to demonstrate God’s faithfulness and to grow in dependence on Him.

• Pursuit of Holiness: It involves a continuous effort to grow in holiness, conforming to the image of Christ through the power of the Holy Spirit. This entails actively resisting temptation, confessing sin, and seeking God’s forgiveness. It’s about letting the Holy Spirit transform your character.

• Evangelism and Missions: Sharing the gospel and making disciples becomes a natural outflow of your love for God and your desire to see others experience His grace. You actively seek opportunities to share your faith, both through words and actions, and to support missions and outreach efforts that spread the gospel to the ends of the earth.

• In every arena of life: Whether at work, at home, in your community, or in your private thoughts, the overarching aim is to bring honor and praise to God. Even mundane tasks are performed with excellence and a spirit of gratitude, recognizing that everything you do can be an act of worship.

In essence, making God’s glory your top priority is a life-long pursuit that requires intentionality, humility, and a constant reliance on God’s grace. It is a transformation of the heart that results in a life lived for His praise and honor.

Pray This Prayer

Heavenly Father,

My heart yearns to understand what it truly means to make Your glory my top priority. I confess, sometimes my ambition whispers louder than Your gentle call. Sometimes the pursuit of my own comfort, my own success, my own desires, drowns out the song of Your love.

Help me to see with clarity, Lord. Show me the idols I unknowingly place before You, the self-serving motivations that masquerade as good intentions. Unmask the pride that puffs me up and the fear that holds me back from fully embracing Your will.

What does it mean to make Your glory my top priority? Does it mean abandoning all earthly desires? Does it mean silencing my own voice? I pray for wisdom to discern the difference between serving You with joy and denying the gifts You have given me.

Guide me, Lord, to use my talents, my passions, my resources, not for my own advancement, but as instruments to reflect Your light into the world. Teach me to speak words that uplift and encourage, to perform acts of kindness that bear witness to Your grace, to live a life that points others to Your saving love.

Help me to see Your glory not as some abstract concept, but as the tangible expression of Your love, Your mercy, Your justice, and Your unwavering presence in every aspect of my life. May my thoughts, my words, and my actions be a living testament to Your goodness.

May Your will be done, not mine. May Your kingdom come, on earth as it is in heaven. May Your glory be revealed through me, in every moment of every day.

In Jesus’ name I pray, Amen.