1 Corinthians 10: 31; Colossians 3: 17
In a personal devotional time with God today, God clarified a profound insight that left me pondering for a while as I lingered further in His presence. It is about the choices we make in any given challenging situation, and how that impacts God. God can be exalted and glorified by the choices we make; or HE can be insulted and debased depending on our response, or our reaction to the seemingly difficult or impossible situations we may face.
You may be questioning why anyone would ever try to insult God. And rightly so, nobody starts off with such a negative intent; however, an insult could be the unplanned outcome of our response if not carefully considered – it’s a subtle effort. Glorifying or debasing God is not always the fruit of our lips; but could be the fruit of our attitude, utterances, beliefs, faith, and actions.
When faced with life’s battles, at any point in time lies before us the path of two choices – either to respond positively, or negatively. The magnitude or intensity of the problem does not matter; these two paths are always the only choices whatever the case may be. Sometimes, though unintentionally, we chose the path that does not exalt God, or glorify His name.
If when faced with whatever our difficulties might be, we concede to fear, failure, despondency, sorrow, murmuring, or refuse to invite God’s help, etc., we have chosen the path that belittles God and exalts the devil. However, if we chose the path of praise, worship, faith in God word, prayer and quietness (even in the face of impending danger, or overwhelming situations); also with our actions/attitude rightly aligned in a positive response, then we have chosen the path that brings glory to God!
In a nutshell, choosing to exalt or belittle God is not always the fruit of our lips as mentioned earlier, but could also be the outcome of our attitude, utterances, beliefs, faith, and actions in the face of difficulties, or challenges – so let us be deliberate with our choices and responses, such that God is glorified in all things!
Shalom!