Glorifying God?

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

I recently heard an evangelist make this profound statement: “It is God who decides if or when He is glorified.”  What a heavy and convicting truth!

Consider King Saul.  Saul probably thought he was glorifying God by sparing the best of the sheep and oxen at Amalek to offer to God as a sacrifice.  However, God was not well pleased!

I wonder about those times I think my actions glorify God, when actually I may be glorifying myself.  It is not up to me to decide if what I’m doing glorifies God (Jer. 17:9).  Maybe God is being glorified and maybe He isn’t. Only God can decide which.

I hope I’m wrong, but I fear some of what we do “to the glory of God,” may be tainted with self. I think we all might guilty of this from time-to-time (including myself!).  For God to be truly glorified, He must get ALL the glory (Isa. 48:11).

I wonder how many think they are glorifying God, when their underlying motive is self-serving.  A wife seeks to win her lost husband to the Lord, but is she doing it “that the Father may be glorified”or that her husband might be easier to live with (John 14:13)?  An unemployed person prays for a job. When God answers, who gets the glory?  A preacher preaches a stirring sermon, but who gets the glory when the service is dismissed?

God help us to sincerely seek to glorify God in all we do, without any thought of self.