I Corinthians 10:31

Last week, we looked at how we can give glory to God by how we face death. Today, let’s look at how we give glory to God with how we use the life we have before death. Let’s start by imaging yourself on the hospital bed, given one week to live. How on earth could you give God glory there?

Maybe you’ve heard Jesus’ story of the Good Samaritan (Luke 10). Think of the victim in that story. He was left for dead at the side of the road — no money, no hope, worthless. If we’re gauging value by "quality of life" this guy is at the bottom of the price chart, right? But, his life gave glory to God, didn’t it? Precisely because this man had no power to do anything, his life gave that Samaritan believer the opportunity to show his love, to exercise his faith, to give God glory by helping.

Remember how Jesus said, "Come to me you who are weary and burdened, and I will give you rest." Maybe, even if your life gets to the point you see no reason for it, maybe your purpose on that hospital bed will be to let someone else live Jesus’ love for you. In Second Corinthians 1, Paul reminded us how God gets glory when things don’t go well for us. He said that we have to go through our problems, we have to go through needing help, so that we are better able to help others down the road and give glory to God by demonstrating his love in someone else’s life if or when he brings us through this struggle.

Your life is all about the glory of God. And God gets the glory when his people realize that. As we face all of our struggles realizing that they are manageable because Jesus conquered our greatest struggle, God gets glory. As we celebrate every blessing we’ve been given because we know it is just a foretaste, just a glimpse of the blessings we have in store for us, God gets glory. In how we view all of life as nothing but God’s grace, God gets glory.

So with what time you’ve got left, whether it is a lot or a little, understand your purpose — that God get glory, and see every end-of-life decision and every single attitude and action in that light. As Paul said, "Whether you eat or drink or whatever you do," whether you live or die or whatever you do, whether you recover or suffer or whatever you do, whether you go suddenly or slowly or whatever you do, whether you read a devotion to your loved one or sing them a hymn or sit quietly by their side holding their hand, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.

That is your purpose in life. May God grant that we fulfill it. Amen.