Giving Him All the Glory

     Looking back over my life, I have come to realize just how God has put so many things together that I could never have imagined.  I bet that has happened to you as well.  We make our plans, as the Bible tells us, but it is God who directs our steps (Proverbs 16:9).
     When I graduated from high school, I fully intended to become a high school teacher.  My area of study was in communication (public speaking, debate, theater, radio) with a minor in English.  Upon graduation, I applied for and was accepted for graduate study at The Ohio State University, but by then, I had met my future husband who also would be going to the same college.  After a year of graduate study, I stopped pursuing my master's degree, and we were married.  People have asked if I ever regretted not completing
that degree and the answer would be no.  However, I did wonder if I would ever use my teaching skills.  Little did I know what God would do.
     While at Ohio State, both my husband and I became committed to the Lord Jesus Christ just three months before we married.  This changed the course of our lives in ways we could never have anticipated.  For example, I never dreamed I would be homeschooling our four children one day.  Yet God directed our steps both as a couple and individually.
     Many of you have been plunged into the new world of homeschooling your children and working from home.  No one saw a pandemic coming that would seemingly shut down our lives for a while.  Behind it all, though, God is at work.  He gets all the glory, and when this time is over, we will see more clearly how He has been at work.
     Recently, my Son posted a wonderful tribute to my ability to home educate, and also work at my husband's optometric practice off and on as needed.  He said "I was a saint".  To that I say a humble thank you as I am a "saint" as far as my relationship to Christ, but I give God all the glory for giving me the ability to do what He called me to do both in the home and out of it.  Each of us has talents, gifts and abilities to serve one another and the Lord.  So when we succeed, all the glory goes to God for allowing us to use them to be a blessing.
     In Galatians 2:20, Paul writes:  "I have been crucified with Christ.  It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me."  This is the secret of our success.  It is the power of God living in us to help us to fulfill what He has called us to do.  William Gurnall, an Anglican clergyman who lived 1616-1679, wrote in his book "The Christian in Complete Armour", the following:  "True faith is full of self-denial.  Faith keeps us low.  Paul didn't want us to be mistaken - 'It is Christ that lives in me, I don't live in my own power.  It is Christ that keeps house.  I mortify my corruptions and vanquish my temptations, but I am a debtor to Christ for the strength'" (11: 35-36).  What wonderful words for us to remember.
     This life is not about me and how many trophies I can accumulate.  Certainly, that is the message of this world, but if you believe that, you are headed for a burn-out eventually because you are running on your own steam.  However, when God calls us to a job, a vocation, or even to pandemic caused homeschooling, we have to turn to Him for the strength to do what is needed.  Why?  Because He receives the glory by our obedient efforts and He supplies what we feel we may lack.
     When people are blessed by what I write, I give the glory to God if it assisted them in their faith.  I don't do it for me...but for Christ.  In the same way, our pastors preach not to call attention to themselves but to share from God's Word that He may be glorified in our lives.  It is not about us at all.  Recalling the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, it reads: " What is the chief end of man?"  Answer:  "To glorify God and enjoy Him forever."  For this purpose, we were created!  We find our satisfaction, completion and wholeness when we are found in Jesus Christ.  Furthermore, when we bring glory to Him, we are fulfilled.
     Let us remember that when we succeed as a Christian in whatever way God has called us to serve (at home, in a job, or in some other capacity) we are to give Him the glory.  Paul writes in Colossians
3:23-24:  " 23Whatever you do, work at it with your whole being, for the Lord and not for men, 24because you know that you will receive an inheritance from the Lord as your reward. It is the Lord Christ you are serving.…"  Remembering this will keep us humble and allow us to shine for Christ.  Selah!