We who are strong have an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. Let each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. For Christ did not please himself, but as it is written, “The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” For whatever was written in former days was written for our instruction, that through endurance and through the encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. (Romans 15.1-4)
God does all things for his own glory
Give no offense to Jews or to Greeks or to the church of God, just as I try to please everyone in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved. Be imitators of me, as I am of Christ (I Corinthians 10.32-11.1).
So we’re supposed to imitate God (imitate Paul imitating Christ who is God) by
- Bearing with the failings of the weak
- In so doing, not being motivated to please ourselves
- Pleasing our neighbors for their good
- Building up our neighbors
- Giving no offense to believers or unbelievers
- Seek the advantage of the many rather than that of oneself so that the many may be saved.
Following this path is the definition, according to First Corinthians 10.31, of doing “all to the glory of God.”
But is this the kind of behavior we think of when we hear people claim God does all things for his own glory?
And in fact, Reformed Theology teaches that ultimately God does all things to share and show his glory.
God hath all life, glory, goodness, blessedness, in and of himself; and is alone in and unto himself all-sufficient, not standing in need of any creatures which he hath made, nor deriving any glory from them, but only manifesting his own glory in, by, unto, and upon them (WCF 2.2)
God shares his glory with you and you reflect that glory by giving to others.
I agree,
except that this principle of giving in a religious context has been used as justification for “mandatory voluntary contributions” so that the Monkey Collective can suck some more life-energy out of you.
I supposed it is like other parts of scripture that are twisted to mean something else.
God finds His glory in loving others. Reformed people sometimes want to say that God “only” loves us to glorify Himself, almost as though they want to diminish the lovingness of the love, lest we get too big for our britches in believing God actually, you know, LOVES us. Oh, sure, He loves us, but that’s just because He wants to in some self-indulgent way, not because He really cares about us being loved, and we had better not care too much about it, either. Or so it often sounds to me.
But of all the things that God could deem as self-glorifying, loving humans (and engaging in extravagant and dramatic acts of love to effect that love) appears to rank at or near the top. So apparently we glorify God by similar behavior?
This love of others (except for a handful of friends and relatives) is an impossible achievement for me, but I pray for God’s grace to have the power to imitate Him in this way.