Question: How can we glorify God?
Answer: We glorify God by enjoying him, loving him, trusting him, and by obeying his will, commands, and law.
WARM-UP
We often equate obedience with something that has got to be done even if we hate it. For many of us, obedience means joylessness. What are things we have to do (“adulting”) that are most often NOT associated with pleasure?
WORD
BIG IDEA
READ
Answer: We glorify God by enjoying him, loving him, trusting him, and by obeying his will, commands, and law.
WARM-UP
We often equate obedience with something that has got to be done even if we hate it. For many of us, obedience means joylessness. What are things we have to do (“adulting”) that are most often NOT associated with pleasure?
WORD
BIG IDEA
- Obedience and joy are overlapping realities in glorifying God.
- The idea that one can have either “God” or “pleasure” but not both is a lie traced all the way back to Fall in the Garden of Eden.
- Sometimes we must obey, even if it doesn’t “feel” good in the moment with faith that there will be joy on the other side of obedience.
READ
Deuteronomy 11:1
You shall therefore love the Lord your God and keep his charge, his statutes, his rules, and his commandments always.
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OLD SELF
NEW SELF
WORLD
This week pay attention to your “joy” levels; to how often you don’t think about or expect joy in the midst of Christian faithfulness. Coach yourself that to glorify God this week he wants you to really enjoy him. Note how joy impacts the energy behind obedience. Report to your FG next week about what you experienced.
PRAYER
Gracious Lord, we want to fully know and enjoy you. Open our eyes to see you as you are that we might trust you and long with all we are to keep your commands. Whether through small kindnesses or great courage, may each act of obedience bring you glory. Amen.
- Why do we often think that doing the “right thing” will be void of pleasure?
- Scripture highlights that love (which includes our desires and passions) of God always goes before obedience. Why is the order of “love and obey” important? Is it hard to believe that this order of affection is true and biblical?
NEW SELF
- Mature faith is when one begins to experience that obeying God and seeking pleasure in God is one and the same thing. Describe an example in your life where obedience to God caused great pleasure.
- Obedience void of pleasure doesn’t last for long and is not biblical. Name an instance when you obeyed but didn’t allow joy to factor in your commitment. What happened?
WORLD
This week pay attention to your “joy” levels; to how often you don’t think about or expect joy in the midst of Christian faithfulness. Coach yourself that to glorify God this week he wants you to really enjoy him. Note how joy impacts the energy behind obedience. Report to your FG next week about what you experienced.
PRAYER
Gracious Lord, we want to fully know and enjoy you. Open our eyes to see you as you are that we might trust you and long with all we are to keep your commands. Whether through small kindnesses or great courage, may each act of obedience bring you glory. Amen.