For His Glory - Heidi Bragg

If you’re anything like me, your list of things to get done this week keeps getting longer. We have responsibilities at home, at church, at work, with family, with friends, and the list goes on. One of my favorite jokes is about the lady waiting for mom to cook dinner - and then she remembers that SHE’S the mom. I distinctly remember my mom and my grandma both scurrying around the house every day preparing meals, cleaning up and moving laundry around. And now, for more than twenty years, that has become my life. And I love it! But can I be honest? I’m a GET-THINGS-DONE kind of person, but I really struggle at times with my motive for what I’m getting done.

I Corinthians 10:31 says, “Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.” This is not new information. Most of us have probably memorized that verse at some point. You may have even taught it to your Sunday School class or your own children. But still, this verse is so convicting. I’m convinced that some of my biggest failures are the times I do what I’m supposed to do, but I do it for my own glory.

Clean house? Check! Laundry done? Check! Dinner planned? Check! Kids behaved/made good grades? Check! Boy, do I see my ugly pride when I stop to think about it. When I focus instead on doing these things for the glory of God, there is a huge shift. I’m more concerned with His will than mine.

Have you ever seen a mom who is crying and bemoaning the fact that her child is growing up? I’m not talking about looking back and remembering how cute their chubby cheeks were or missing them when they leave home. I’m talking about literal sorrow that they will be leaving her and her life will be over. My husband and I remind ourselves (especially me!) often that our children are not ours. They are the Lord’s. The end goal is to see them enter adulthood with a true love for the Lord and a plan to serve him with their lives. That means they will leave. Parenting isn’t about making ME happy, it’s about God’s glory.

I’m very much a planner. My dad jokes that there are some people that can organize the fun right out of anything. That’s me! Ha Ha. One year, we were planning a missions trip to the Dominican Republic with our teens. I had lists of lists. I was feeling pretty good about the plans for the last two days before our trip when I got a call that we would be doing a VBS for the church there in the DR. I was in charge of crafts, and needed to bring my supplies with me. Well, I’m not a crafty person, and this was not how I had planned things out. I had to change my spirit to make sure I was focused on the Lord and His glory. I was struggling. I somehow managed to get it all together and was prepared for more than the 25 kids we were expecting. By the end of the VBS, we had nearly 100 kids! It was like the loaves and fishes how the Lord multiplied the stack of construction paper and glue I had packed. It’s amazing how adjusting my “attitude” to doing this for HIS glory made for one of the most memorable experiences of my life. I’ll never forget it.

Maybe you’re like me, and this is something you need to remind yourself. Life’s not about me. It’s about HIM. I Corinthians 6:20 instructs us that “Ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God’s.” I want God to be glorified in EVERYTHING that I do for Him.

Matthew 5:16 - “Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven.”