When Will God Get the Glory?

“According to 1 Peter 2:12, why should we live good lives? When will God get the glory?”

It’s not easy being a believer some days. It’s not easy submitting to my husband. It’s not easy being a mother to seven children. It’s not easy trusting God to give us more children if He wants to, as He sees fit. It’s not easy training my children in righteousness. It’s not easy keeping my attitude right in my home. It’s not easy to be hospitable to others or to share freely of my time.

So why do it? Wouldn’t it be a lot easier to just do things the easy way?

It would. John Piper agrees, and in his excellent book, Don’t Waste Your Life, he reminds readers of this verse,

“For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it” (Mark 8:35).

In my Juggling Life’s Responsibilities book, I ask my readers to think about why we should live good lives.

“Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us” (1 Peter 2:12).

Paul says almost the same things to us women when he writes,

“Likewise, teach the older women to be reverent in the way they live, not to be slanderers or addicted to much wine, but to teach what is good. Then they can train the younger women to love their husbands and children, to be self-controlled and pure, to be busy at home, to be kind, and to be subject to their husbands, so that no one will malign the word of God” (Titus 2:3-5).

It seems God has a lot at stake in our lives. He has big plans for us, and He wants to bless us — but He also wants to get the glory!

Sometimes it bothers me a little that God might allow difficult circumstances in my life, to develop my character, just so He can get the glory. I would much prefer that He just bless me and allow my life to be a lot less painful and more prosperous.

“This is the word that came to Jeremiah from the LORD : ^‘Go down to the potter’s house, and there I will give you my message.’ So I went down to the potter’s house, and I saw him working at the wheel. But the pot he was shaping from the clay was marred in his hands; so the potter formed it into another pot, shaping it as seemed best to him.  Then the word of the LORD came to me: ^‘O house of Israel, can I not do with you as this potter does?’ declares the LORD. ‘Like clay in the hand of the potter, so are you in my hand, O house of Israel'” (Jeremiah 18:1-6).

As my husband says, “God has the right to make me into a clay pot and — smoosh — change me into whatever He wants me to look like, whenever He pleases.”

Smoosh! Sometimes being a wife really hurts!

Smoosh! Sometimes being a mom really hurts!

Smoosh! Sometimes being a friend really hurts!

But God is my Creator, and He has the right to do with my life as He pleases.

So He’ll get the glory.

If I resist Him, I’ll just end up in a pile of damaged clay pots, unable to be used… ugly… broken. But if I’ll remain pliable in His hands, my life will be beautiful… useful… and glorifying to my Creator.

So when will God get all this glory anyway? Tomorrow, right? I’ll see the fruits of all this hard work soon, right?

Let’s look at our verse again:

“Live such good lives among the pagans that, though they accuse you of doing wrong, they may see your good deeds and glorify God on the day he visits us” (1 Peter 2:12).

It might not be tomorrow. I don’t know when Jesus will return — and I hope it’s very soon! But I do know that sometimes, God asks me to wait.

Well, that’s okay. Waiting is another lesson that I seem to keep having to work on as a wife and mom. It’s all part of the “good deeds” God is working on developing in me.

Smoosh…