Beloved, I beg you as sojourners and pilgrims, abstain from fleshly lusts which war against the soul, having your conduct honorable among the Gentiles, that when they speak against you as evildoers, they may, by your good works which they observe, glorify God in the day of visitation. (1 Peter 2:11-12)

To Glorify God

The sole purpose of man’s existence is to glorify God. Man was created to show the majesty of the wisdom and power of God. There is nothing humanity can accomplish on its own without the blessing of the Creator. Life comes from God. The world was created by the will of God. Every star is where God places it, and God names every star. The universe revolves in its place because the Lord ordained it. When the Sun was formed by the word of the Lord, God placed the burning inferno exactly the right distance to sustain life on planet Earth. Nothing is out of order in God’s creation. Man was created in the image of God. The authority to have dominion over the earth was given to mankind by the Creator of all things.

Adam and Eve were placed in the Garden of Eden to showcase the will of the Father. Everything they needed was provided, including the free will to choose to obey the word of the Lord. Satan did not force Eve to take the forbidden fruit. Her guilt was her own, as it was with Adam. The fall of man denied the glory of God, but the grace of God restored it. Instead of abandoning humanity to its own destruction, the Lord God made a promise to redeem the world through the death of His Son. In the eternal plan of God, Jesus Christ would take on the form of flesh, dwell among humanity, and suffer death at the hands of wicked men. This was God’s plan, not man. Jesus died on the cross to show the glory of God.

The death of Jesus brought God and man back to a place where redemption was offered. Most men reject the invitation of grace to find Jesus as Savior and return to a place of salvation. Those who believe and obey the word of the Lord find joy in the redemption from sin. In that cleansing, the Lord remains constant in His desire for His creation to show His glory. The fleshly lusts continue to war against the soul as Satan attacks the heart of God’s people. There is a war between the lust of the flesh and the will of the Spirit. It is a fierce battle. God knows and understands the challenge of fighting against the sins of the flesh. His grace helps the child of God live in such a manner to show the eternal power of God’s mercy.

While the world seeks its own pleasures, the child of God lives in such a manner that God is glorified in all things. The only focus of life is to find ways to let the world see the glory of God. Speaking truth glorifies God. Refusing the temptations of the flesh glorifies God. Being people of faith through the reading of the word of God and prayer sets forth a pattern of life that glorifies God. When the world examines the life of the Christian, all they see is the glory of God. No man can live to perfection as Jesus did, but that is not the eternal plan of God. He knows that men are dust and will not punish them according to their sin.

Living godly lives not only helps fight the wiles of the devil, but also shows the world how sinful man can be transformed into the image of the glory of God. The world wants to live according to the selfish interest of the heart, but the Christian lives so that God will be glorified in all they do. When the world sees the good works of the Christian, what they see is the glorification of how majestic, forgiving, compassionate, and awesome God is. That is the sole purpose of man. Everything in life is about his relationship with God because that is all that life can be. Death comes to all men, and the glory of God is revealed in eternity. Those who glorify God in this life will share in the glory of God in eternity. What glory that will be.