The Father Glorified
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"Herein is My Father glorified, that you bear much fruit; showing yourselves to be My disciples." John 15:8.
The essential glory of the Divine Being admits of neither limitation or increase. Shall the sun borrow beams from the glow-worm? Or can the tiny candle add to the effulgence of his noontide splendour? God would have been infinitely glorious in Himself — had not a single creature been called into existence! He was infinitely glorious in the solitudes of eternity — before any of the bright legions of cherubim or seraphim were created. The adorations of angels add nothing to His essential glory; and the blasphemies of men on earth, or of devils in hell, detract nothing from it. "Look at the heavens and see; gaze at the clouds high above you. If you sin — how does it affect God? If you multiply your transgressions — what does it do to Him? If you are righteous — what do you give Him, or what does He receive from your hand?" Job 35:5-7. There is thus, an important sense, in which He is altogether unaffected by our obedience on the one hand — and by our rebellion on the other. The wickedness of men cannot hurt Him; neither can the righteousness of men profit Him.
At the same time, it is possible for us to glorify God. An individual of exalted rank may possess every blessing in abundance, so as to need nothing that we might be able to do for him; and yet, such a one may be honoured by us. In like manner, although the blessed God is in no way dependent upon our services — we are permitted, notwithstanding, to show forth the honour of His name, and make His praise glorious.
Not merely are we permitted to do so — but it is our incumbent duty — the neglect of which involves the greatest guilt, as well as the basest ingratitude. To glorify God is the great design for which we were formed, and, therefore, to lose sight of it is to miss the very end of our existence! What if the sun refused to diffuse its light and heat? Would not the law of its creation be transgressed, since it was expressly designed for that purpose? What if the showers refused to leave the clouds to fertilize the thirsty ground; or the earth to bring forth her treasures, after all the cultivation it had received?
What, however, would be merely unnatural in the inanimate creation — would in us be far more monstrous, inasmuch as we are capable of knowing our duty, and are under the highest obligations to perform it! Let the sun refuses to shine, and the showers refuse to descend, and the earth refuses to yield its produce — they but transgress the great law of their creation. Let us see to it — by all that is binding in the authority of the Most High God, by all that is solemn in the thought of our responsibility to Him, and by the appalling consequences which must ensue if His claims are disregarded — that we do not transgress that higher law under which we are placed — a law which requires us to glorify God, both with our bodies and spirits, which are His.
How fearful was the charge brought against the impious monarch of old — "The God in whose hand your breath is, and whose are all your ways — you have not glorified!" Reader, beware lest the same charge is brought against you. That it may not, seek to ascertain what the divine requirements are — with a full determination to comply with all of them. And what does the Lord your God require of you?
He requires your warmest gratitude — "for whoever offers praise glorifies Me." He requires your fullest confidence, so that, like the father of the faithful, you may be "strong in faith, giving glory to God." And, above all, He requires that every feeling and faculty of your nature be consecrated, in unreserved devotedness, to Him!
"What will you have me to do?" — should be your daily inquiry! And to be ever abounding in the work of the Lord — should be your constant aim and object. Seek, then, to be filled with all the fruits of righteousness, which are by Jesus Christ, unto the glory and praise of God.
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