June 3, 2011(right after the Hillsong United concert)
I’m nursing a sore throat and crushed flat feet plus a sore back due to a disaligned spine. My hands hurt from clapping too much and my arms are heavy. Why? Cause I came from a Hillsong United concert. Araneta Coliseum was filled to the brim with thousands of people who were glorifying God by singing (or trying to) and dancing (or trying to). Soli Deo Gloria.
I remember the first time I watched a worship concert in Manila’s biggest concert venue. The popcorn and hotdog sandwich vendors were discussing midway through the concert. I heard them discussing that they can’t possibly sell food to preoccupied young people who’d rather scream their lungs out than fill their empty tummies. More so, they can’t believe why everybody’s standing and ignoring the seats. They marvel at how everyone sang with the band and knew all the songs. They cannot understand that we paid good money to glorify God as a congregation of believers.
There is no sweeter joy than to be given a chance to glorify God. Many people spend their life looking for purpose in life. They turn to self-help books, lofty dreams, ideal partners, and pleasure just to discover what they were meant to do and who they were meant to be. Truth is, our sole purpose is to glorify God.
During a discussion session in our recent youth camp, one young man asked me and my twin sister (we were facilitating) why God bad things to happen to good people and good things happen to bad people. I remember replying that God allows some things to happen because the chief end is for God to be glorified. That young man smirked and remarked bluntly, “Isn’t it weird that God wants to glorify Himself?” I asked him if he thinks it’s kind of selfish for God to glorify Himself with us being objects of His glorification and he nodded.
Is God selfish? Is God too demanding? Does God need our adoration? Is God a powerful spoiled brat who just wants to take all that we can give just because He can strike us dead if we refuse? Is God a glory-hungry tyrant?
NO.
God isn’t selfish. Think about it this way. God deserves glory.
“Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name.” (1 Chronicles 16:29)
Can we fault anyone who’s asking for anything he rightfully deserves? When a man walks up to you and asks for a million pesos, we’ll probably think that he’s a robber or some crazy selfish guy. However, if you are a bank teller and that same man asks for ten million pesos from his billion-peso account, it makes perfect sense. It’s not right to withhold his right. In the same way, when God asks us to glorify Him, we ought to give Him what is rightfully His. He is in no way selfish. We serve because He deserves it.
We tend to forget that God opened His account when He created the world and everything in it. Throughout history which is His story, He kept on adding to that account. The biggest deposit happened more than 2,000 years ago, when Jesus paid our debts with His blood.
When I took up Business Law, our professor told us that bank deposits are really loans. The bank owes us what we deposit. Banks do not have the option to withhold our money from us. In the same way, we have to give God what is God’s.
Giving glory to God isn’t a sacrifice. It’s simply giving God what is God’s.
Last night, the young people of Manila, Philippines led by a band from Australia did just that.
Soli Deo Gloria.
(this is a repost from my tumblr blog)
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