Do you do all things so that God may be praised?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

If anyone speaks, they should do so as one who speaks the very words of God. If anyone serves, they should do so with the strength God provides, so that in all things God may be praised through Jesus Christ. To him be the glory and the power for ever and ever. Amen.
(1 Peter 4:11 (NIV))

Have you ever stopped to truly reflect upon your motives?

Knowing human nature, I would venture to say that each of us think that we have pure motives for our thoughts and actions, but human nature is deceitful! According to this passage, everything that we do should glorify the Lord. Are you able to say that all of your thoughts and actions glorify God? There is one sure way to see if this is true. Simply have someone cut you off in traffic and see how you react! Do your words praise God? Do your actions bring glory to the Lord? There is a very good chance that even those of us who are able to spend most of our days praising the Lord will think or say or do things that are less than glorifying.

Is this your intent, or do you feel remorse when these situations bring out the sinful human nature that resides in all of us? Even if you repent of these thoughts, words and actions, what do your actions convey to the world? We know that if we repent, we will be forgiven by the Lord, but the world sees us and immediately calls us hypocrites because our actions don’t always match what we profess. Perhaps this is why we are told to think, speak and act as if we are glorifying the Lord. How we present the Lord through our personal conduct is sometimes all that the world will see. We are called to reflect His light, but if we aren’t careful, we reflect the wrong thing.

Please don’t misunderstand me on this. We are called to mature in Christ and become more and more like Jesus. This is what the Lord wants of us, but we must also recognize that we do not live in this world by ourselves. Everything that we do, especially if we profess a faith in Jesus as our personal Lord and Savior, is under constant scrutiny by the world. We don’t want to give the world anything that they can claim as falsehoods and hypocrisy when it comes to our Lord. I believe that I can safely say that too many people look to those who profess a faith in Jesus expecting them to be perfect. They have a wrong understanding of those who follow Jesus.

We aren’t perfect, but we have a Lord and Savior who is!

We should always strive to reflect Jesus in all that we do, even when we are less than perfect ourselves. We should have the desire to do all things so that God may be praised!

Do you do all things so that God may be praised?

Copyright 1998 – 2019 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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Are you in a singing mood?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living

But I will sing of your strength,
in the morning I will sing of your love;
for you are my fortress,
my refuge in times of trouble.
O my Strength, I sing praise to you;
you, O God, are my fortress, my loving God.
(Psalms 59:16-17 (NIV))

What do you think of when you think of someone singing?

If you are like most people, you will probably think that the person who is singing is joyful and happy. Occasionally, you will find someone singing when they are depressed and sad, but you will not find them singing joyful songs. David sang praises no matter how he felt, for he knew that God was the same regardless of what may be happening in his life. God still provided a fortress and a place of refuge in both the good times and in the times of trouble.

I find it difficult to be like David and sing praises in the times of trouble. It is human nature to focus on the situation at hand and complain because we feel abandoned. If we would only stop to realize that God is still there, we could easily turn our attitudes around.

You turned my wailing into dancing;
you removed my sackcloth and clothed me with joy,
that my heart may sing to you and not be silent.
O LORD my God, I will give you thanks forever.
(Psalms 30:11-12 (NIV))

No matter what situation we may find ourselves in, we must always sing praises to God. When we sing praises to God, it does not allow the enemy to gain an entrance into our lives. It does not allow the enemy to use our self-pity to turn us against God. When times are troubled, we must turn to God and rely fully on His grace and mercy. I don’t know about you, but thinking about God’s grace and mercy is always enough to get me singing – well, at least on the inside.

Are you in a singing mood?

Copyright 1998 – 2019 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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We may not fathom His greatness, but we can praise Him?

Be Still . . .
Devotionals for Daily Living ^©

Great is the LORD and most worthy of praise;
his greatness no one can fathom.
(Psalms 145:3 (NIV))

Have you ever stopped to contemplate greatness?

What did you find yourself thinking about?

Some may think of massive structures such as tall buildings or massive natural wonders such as the Grand Canyon. Some may think of someone from history who had a tremendous impact on the world. Others may think of someone from sports that has set multiple records, while others may think of people who have been shrewd at business and amassed great wealth. It is funny how, in our humanity, we define these things as great, for they are all based on the physical world in which we live. But have you ever stopped to consider the greatness of the One who made the physical world?

We fail to truly realize the greatness of the One who created everything, for our perspective is limited and our understanding is as through a glass darkly.

Think about that using the following comparison.

Consider your perspective if you were an ant. Your world would be the same, but very different. Your understanding of your surroundings would be very limited. What you would consider to be great would be such things as the queen of the ant hill and the actual structure of the ant hill. You would have no concept of anything beyond this perspective. To an ant, a human being is huge. Would you even be able to grasp the concept that the giant mass in front of you is a living being? Could you even begin to fathom such a notion?

I often feel that in our relationship to God, we are the ants. We see things from a very limited perspective. We see traces of what God can do, but we do not truly comprehend the majesty and the greatness of our God for we try to understand Him from our limited perspective. How can we, as created humanity, ever begin to understand the Creator? How can we comprehend His greatness when all we see is His fingerprint on our lives?

Perhaps, the following passage says it best.

“For my thoughts are not your thoughts,
neither are your ways my ways,”
declares the LORD.
“As the heavens are higher than the earth,
so are my ways higher than your ways
and my thoughts than your thoughts.
(Isaiah 55:8-9 (NIV))

How can we truly comprehend the greatness of the Lord when we stop to consider the truth written in Isaiah? We don’t have the capacity to understand infinite greatness! All that we can do is praise His name!

Copyright 1998 – 2016 Dennis J. Smock
Daily Living Ministries, Inc.
http://www.dailylivingministries.org
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