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GLORIFYING GOD

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Pacific Press Publishing Company · Oakland, California · Nov 14, 1892

FromSigns of the Times, Vol. 19, No. 2.

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GLORIFYING GOD.

"I GLORIFIED Thee on earth, having accomplished the work which Thou hast given Me to do." John 17:4. This is the true and only way to glorify God. The Psalmist says, "The heavens declare the glory of God," and again, "All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord." How is it that the works of God glorify him?—It is because they are passive in his hands, for him to manifest his power through them. They take no honor to themselves, but show forth the eternal power and Godhead of the Creator.
"God hath spoken once; twice have I heard this; that power belongeth unto God." Ps. 62:11. All good works must come from him. "It is God which worketh in you both to will and to do of his good pleasure." Phil. 2:13. When men come to the light, that by reflecting the glory of God it may be manifest that their deeds are wrought in him, then they truly glorify God. Only he who allows God to work in him can finish the work that God has given him to do.
The soul, therefore, who recognizes and acknowledges that he is nothing, but that God is everything, will truly glorify God, because he will allow God to exhibit his power in him. "For we are his workmanship, created in Christ Jesus for good works, which God hath afore prepared that we should walk in them." Eph. 2:10, Revised Version. So the one who is in Christ is, like the heavens, the workmanship of God, and, like the heavens, he glorifies God.
No matter how eloquently a man may talk about the exalted character of God, if he thinksthat he has in himself power to do any of the works of God, he thereby dishonors God; for he virtually says that God is no greater than he is. He tries to pass off his own works as God's works. But in the divine plan there is no place provided for the exhibition of self. God must be all in all. "But ye are an elect race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for God's own possession, that ye may show forth the excellencies of him who hath called you out of darkness into his marvelous light." 1 Peter 2:9.—The Present Truth.