How to Teach Your Kids About Glorifying God

The following is part of a project that I'm working on to help parents disciple their kids.  I'm taking each question from the Home Discipleship Catechism and writing a short lesson that parents can read to their kids.  The bold text is the question; the underlined portion is the answer from the catechism, followed by the explanation.  At the bottom you will also find Questions for Discussion and verses For Further Study.  I hope to post a new lesson every Monday.  You can download the Home Discipleship Catechism for free HERE.

Question 5:  How can we glorify God?

By loving Him and obeying His commands.
People are created in the image of God, and therefore the ultimate purpose of mankind is to reflect God’s image.  This is what it means to glorify God.  To glorify God is to display the goodness and greatness of God through your life.  
1 Corinthians 10:31 (CSB) says, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do everything for the glory of God.”  We must seek to glorify God in everything that we do – in our speech, our thoughts, our attitude, our actions, the way we treat people, our finances, our schoolwork, and even in our free time.
Ephesians 5:1 (CSB) says, “Therefore, be imitators of God, as dearly loved children.”  Think of some of God’s attributes.  God is holy, loving, generous, merciful, compassionate, faithful, and honest.  To glorify God is to imitate His attributes in order to show the world what God is like through your life.  The better you imitate God’s holiness, love, mercy, and His other attributes, the better you will glorify God.  
Colossians 3:17 (NLT) says, “And whatever you do or say, do it as a representative of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks through him to God the Father.”  Christ is in heaven, and God is invisible.  How can the world discover what God is like?  They can read the Bible.  But a visible image would be very helpful.  That’s what it means to glorify God.  Think of yourself as Christ’s representative.  Your mission is to represent God in whatever you say or do.  In everything you say, say what God would say.  In everything you do, do what God would do.  Let your life be a picture of God’s goodness and greatness so that people can discover what God is like and praise Him.  
One way to glorify God is by loving Him.  This is the greatest commandment of all.  Mark 12:30 (CSB) says, “Love the Lord your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.”  To love God is to feel strong affection and admiration for Him, to walk in a close relationship with Him, and to aim to please Him in all that you do.  God did not create you to be His slave, but to be His child, and to love Him and enjoy a relationship with Him.  The more you love God, the more He is glorified by you.
Another important way to glorify God is by obeying His commands.  Deuteronomy 6:17 (CSB) says, “Carefully observe the commands of the Lord your God, the decrees and statutes he has commanded you.”  All of God’s commands are like tools to help you build a life that glorifies God.  When you obey God, you glorify Him.  When you disobey God, you do not glorify Him.  It is very important to diligently study God’s word so that you can discover God’s commands, and to carefully obey God’s commands so that you can glorify Him.
The Bible says that all of us have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God (Rm 3:23).  Nobody but Jesus has perfectly glorified God.  But Jesus Christ paid for our sins on the cross so that we could be forgiven and be reconciled to God, and through the power of the Holy Spirit we can overcome sin and grow to glorify God more and more.  

Questions For Discussion:
  1. What does it mean to glorify God?
  2. What did you do to glorify God today?
  3. What did you do today that did not glorify God?
  4. How does loving God help you to glorify Him?
  5. How does obeying God help you to glorify Him?
  6. Why is it important to glorify God?
For Further Study:
  1. Deuteronomy 6:17
  2. Mark 12:30
  3. Romans 3:23
  4. 1 Corinthians 10:31
  5. Ephesians 5:1
  6. Colossians 3:17

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