His Glory = Our Pleasure

Why does God want to be glorified? It is perhaps a strange question. He is of course not insecure or needy. He is not competing with some other god who might win in the end. Why does He want to be glorifed through our lives? What motivates Him? Of course, He is absolutely worthy, but why does He desire it (Isaiah 48:11) if He doesn't need it? If I miss something important in my disjointed ramblings, feel free to share your thoughts. : )

At various times the last few months, I have been contemplating the Christian life and how it connects to what is going on in God's thoughts. The world is really messed up by sin and its consequences. In contrast to His foresight, unchanging character, and power over all things, we are affected and we change and we can't see beyond today. Why does He choose to use such a life on the earth to draw attention and glory to Himself?

I love where God has me, because I trust His intentions for me, but I also feel God's stretching and molding, with the stark disappointments and gentle sorrows that accompany the seasons of every person's life. As a believer, I understand that even happy times are not ultimately satisfying. Yet there is a safety in knowing that God is there either way. Maybe that's the point: living life for God's glory forces me to cling to Him, and I know Him, my true source of satisfaction, better that way.

"You open Your hand and satisfy the desire of every living thing." (Psalm 145:16)

Philippians 3 also has a lot to say about the connections between knowing Christ and living life well. To know Him is to take on His righteousness, take on His sufferings, take on expectation for what is to come.

A particular article answered some of those questions for me about how it all works together. One thought from the author summarizes the rest: "His aim to bring praise to himself and his aim to bring pleasure to his people are one aim and stand or fall together." Piper talks about how God seeks to bring glory to Himself, not because He needs us, but because we need Him.

In further linked articles, I re-learned that it is such a loving thing that He does for us, to pull us outside of ourselves, outside of our self-centeredness, to focus on something worth focusing on. And therein lie true joy and satisfaction. There is also wonderful application to every one of our human relationships:

The love of God is not God's making much of us, but God's saving us from self-centeredness so that we can enjoy making much of him forever. And our love to others is not our making much of them, but helping them to find satisfaction in making much of God. True love aims at satisfying people in the glory of God. Any love that terminates on man is eventually destructive. It does not lead people to the only lasting joy, namely, God. Love must be God-centered, or it is not true love; it leaves people without their final hope of joy.

In conclusion, one reason God wants to be glorified through our lives is because in that process we and others come to know Him better. To have our attention on the only One who is worthy is to find our deepest needs met and to experience the pleasure of relationship with Him.