Glory: How Can We Give God What He Already Has?

Read: Revelation 4

So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God. 
(1 Corinthians 10:31)

The Bible tells us repeatedly that one of our main functions as human beings who have been created in the image of God is to give glory to God (Psalm 3:3-4; Colossians 1:15-18). The Bible also tells us that heaven and earth are filled with the glory of God (Numbers 14:21; Isaiah 6:3). At first glance, there appears to be something of a contradiction, or at least a paradox, here: How can we give God something He already has?

It seems to me that a key to resolving this conundrum can be found in the psalmist’s exhortation: “Ascribe to the Lord, all you families of nations, / ascribe to the Lord glory and strength. / Ascribe to the Lord the glory due his name; / bring an offering and come into his courts” (Psalm 96:7-8). To “ascribe” something to someone means to “give credit” to someone as “being the cause” of something. In other words, we give glory to God when we give Him the credit for who we are and what we have. When we do this, we are actually reflecting God’s glory back to Him.

But, for those of us who have disabilities which are the result of malfunctioning bodies and/or minds, there is sometimes a tendency to think that our disabilities somehow disqualify us from bringing glory to God because we’ve bought into the able-ist worldview of our society. According to this able-ist worldview, the presence of disability may well be a cause for ascribing blame, but certainly not for ascribing glory.

Jesus, however, demonstrated a very different view of disability during his earthly ministry. Upon encountering a man who had been born blind, Jesus’ disciples asked him, "Teacher, whose sin caused this man to be born blind-his own sin or his parents' sin?" Jesus answered, "It is not this man's sin or his parents' sin that made him blind. This man was born blind so that God's power could be shown in him” (John 9:2-3, New Century Version).  In this encounter, Jesus teaches us that, rather than being disqualified from bringing glory to God, people with disabilities can be uniquely positioned to bring glory to God in ways that will have maximum impact. (And you don’t necessarily need to be healed from your disability for this to happen! But that’s a subject for a future post... :-)

Loving Heavenly Father, Thank you for giving all human beings the capacity to reflect Your glory, regardless of their abilities or disabilities. Grant me the perceptiveness to catch glimpses of Your glory in those around me. May I daily become more and more conformed to the life of Jesus, so that I may reflect His glory with increasing clarity. In Jesus’ Name. Amen.