Palma Deus

When translated, "Palma Deus" roughly means, "glory of God."

I was really challenged yesterday when I was reading a sermon by John Piper, and his main point was that we are created for God's glory.

Clearly, because God is God, his glory cannot be increased, but his glory can be displayed. That is what we are as humans, a display of God's glory. Our lives are meant to glorify him, to bring him honor and to bring him praise.

This is somewhat of a break through for me.

I guess I know that I am ultimately made to glorify God, but I don't always live that way. To be honest, my prayer life is way more self focused then it should be. I'm usually concerned with MY personal holiness, MY life goals, how am I being used, what needs to be changed in ME. See a pattern?

Don't get me wrong, God DOES care about those things, but they are not his priority. His priority is displaying his glory to all, and in turn drawing people to himself. In order to be in line with that plan, everything I say and do needs to bring glory to God.

When I speak, it needs to bring glory to God, when I act, it needs to bring glory to God. If I'm not doing that, I'm out of line. I know I won't always do that perfectly, but that's the goal. Of course, there is a time and a place to share with people when I'm having a rough time, but even then, the goal should be resolving whatever is wrong to the GLORY OF GOD. When I complain and get frustrated and my goal is making myself feel better, I am losing sight of what I am created for.

It's a great question to check motives. "Am I doing this for God's glory? Am I doing this to advance the kingdom?"

Where I'm at isn't going to change as a result of this revelation. My life goals, being her at Ballet Magnificat, all of this IS to the glory of God. What needs to be changed in my life is my attitude, my focus and the way I share with other people.