GETTING GLORY FOR GOD, OR FOR OURSELVES?

By A. W. Tozer

Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do,
do all to the glory of God.             -- 1 Corinthians 10:31

       I think that we ought to be mature enough to
confess that many have been converted to Christ and
have come into the church without wrestling with that
basic human desire for honor and praise.

      As a result, some have actually spent a lifetime in
religious work doing little more than getting glory for
themselves!

       Brethren, the glory can belong only to God!  If we
take the glory.  God is being frustrated in the church.

       The work of the ministry which the saints are to do
will bring about the edifying of the Body of Christ - and
this is not just in reference to the ordained ministry as
we know it.  It is the ministry of all Christians to have
some share in the building up of the Body of Christ
until we all come into the unity of the faith and of the
knowledge of the Son of God unto a perfect man, with a
measure of the stature of the fullness of Christ.

       Surely in this sense God desires to use the Body of
Christ for doing His final work - His eternal work.

      But Christian believers and Christian congregations
must be thoroughly consecrated to Christ's glory alone!

       This means absolutely turning our backs on the
modern insistence for human glory and recognition.

       Natural gifts and talents are not enough in God's
work. The mighty Spirit of God must have freedom to
animate and quicken with His overtones of creativity
and blessing.

       You can write it down as a fact: no matter what a
man does, no matter how successful he seems to be,
if the Holy Spirit is not the chief energizer of his activity,
it will all fall apart when he dies!
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Yours in Christ,
Paul N. F.