We know that in everything we do, we are to glorify God (1 Corinthians 10:31). Or, as the catechism says, “man’s chief end is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever.” To be clear, God is perfectly glorious on His own. Glorifying God doesn’t mean we make Him more glorious, because that would be impossible. It would be like trying to make water more wet. We cannot make God more glorious; instead, we can live to make His glory more known.
When God answers our prayers, and we tell someone else about it, God gets the glory. When we thank God for giving us the strength to face a trying time, God gets the glory. When we give our life to Christ and spend the rest of our days inviting others to Christ, like Billy Graham did, God gets the glory.
Notice Psalm 79:9—“Help us, O God of our salvation, for the glory of Your name; deliver us, and atone for our sins, for Your name’s sake!” The psalmist here confesses that he and his people have been sinful against God. He cries out for salvation, deliverance, and atonement for sins.
But he prays for none of these blessings based on his own goodness, nor on the promise of behaving better in the future. He prays God will save, deliver, and atone “for the glory of [God’s] name . . . for [God’s] name’s sake.” God’s name is His reputation—what’s known about Him. This prayer is for the Lord to rescue us so that the world will see what a gracious God we have.
Most people have no idea what God is like. But they can begin to learn about Him from us. Let someone know how God has blessed you. In this way you can glorify God.
