We get one shot at life and it is up to us as to what we are going to do with it. Here is one question every follower needs to ask themselves: "Does my life bring glory to God?"
Most people want glory, but they want it for themselves. It is like a football player who scores a touchdown, there are two reactions we normally see. One, the player crosses the goal line and starts to dance, celebrate, grab a sharpie from the goal post and sign the ball--mainly drawing attention to themselves as if to say, "Look what I have done!" Self-glorification.
Sometimes a player falls on his knees and prays. Whether it is authentic or not, that is up to the player and God. But it does show a different reaction. It is a reaction showing people who deserves the glory--God the giver of talent, the one who made it possible for the player to even play football.
So here is the question again, in life, when you score a touchdown is it all about you and what you have accomplished? Is it self-glorification or do you give God the glory for giving you the opportunity?
There are three ways we can bring glory to God. I am sure there are others, but there are three we need to focus on at Northwest. First, we bring glory to God when we pursue excellence. Not perfection, but excellence. This means we are going to give God the best we have. Colossians 3:17 says, "And whatever you do, whether in word or deed, do it all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks to God the Father through Him."
What ever we do, we do it in the name of Jesus, giving him the glory. We are going to give our best in all we do.
Second, there is a common theme in passages that talk about bringing glory to God. It has to do with unity. When people work together as one we bring glory to God. Jesus in John 17 prays for unity among believers. He tells us to become one just as he and the Father are one (along with the Holy Spirit). God is glorified when we come together. Psalm 34:3 says, "Glorify the Lord with me; let us exalt his name together."
Finally, we bring glory to God when we pursue his will. Dave Browning said, "It is more important that we do the right things than we do things right." We can do things with excellence and we can come together as one, but if we are not doing what God's will is, then it does not bring glory to God. It becomes a form of self-glorification where we say, "Look at what we did!"
Our language needs to be, "Look at what God is doing!" That is when this core value is lived out. Glorify God in everything we do.