May 1 A Charge to Keep

May 1

A Charge to Keep

Ps 86:12 …I will glorify thy name for evermore.

What kind of man would have done that?  He even wrote a book about it!  People who visit his library are reminded of what was on his mind. Who was he and what had he done?

A few weeks ago my wife and I visited the three presidential libraries in Texas; Bush 43, LBJ, and Bush 41. In the George Bush (43) library in Dallas was a sign “A charge to keep I have” which was his motto. His book “A Charge to Keep” expanded on that idea.

By now you have realized the phrase is from a marvelous hymn.

1. A charge to keep I have,
   A God to glorify,
   A never-dying soul to save
   And fit it for the sky.
2. To serve the present age,
   My calling to fulfill:
   Oh, may it all my pow’rs engage
   To do my Master’s will!

Politics aside he had an understanding of who he served.

The author of the hymn, Charles Wesley, had some doctrinal ideas I do not share, but the essence of the hymn, a God to Glorify, is the focus of our devotional thought for today.

First we need to understand what the word “glorify” means. Mr. Webster says Glorify 1a “To make glorious by bestowing honor, praise or admiration 1b To elevate to celestial glory.”

Well that wasn’t much help. Let me ask Mr. Webster what the word glory means. Glory 1b “worshipful praise, honor and thanksgiving.”

OK, I think that gives us the general idea. The word glorify sort of combines worship, praise, honor and thanksgiving.  We find that idea in a well-known verse

Mt 5:16 Let your light so shine before men,

that they may see your good works,

and glorify your Father which is in heaven.

Nothing complicated here. Don’t hide your light, let it shine before men, let people see your good works but be sure God gets the credit. If you do this right when people see you doing good they will glorify God and not you.  This verse is so common we sometimes miss the key parts. Please go read it again slowly and dwell on the phrases.

The word glorify is found 22 times in our KJV Bible. Perhaps some of those verses will help us better understand how to glorify God.

Ps 50:15 And call upon me in the day of trouble:

I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.

A workman was slowly sliding down a very high, steep roof. He couldn’t get any traction and there was nothing to grab. He prayed “Oh God help me!”  As he was praying his pants snagged onto a nail and stopped him. He prayed again ”Lord, you don’t need to help me now. I took care of the problem myself”

Does that sound familiar?  “Lord if you will just get me out of this problem I will read my Bible every day, go to church every Sunday and stop drinking and cussing.”  And when the problem is resolved all the promises are forgotten.   

The verse says when God gets us out of trouble we need to be sure he gets the honor, worship, praise and thanksgiving. That is what glorifying God is about.

Ps 86:12 I will praise thee, O Lord my God, with

all my heart: and I will glorify thy name for evermore.

I once heard a priest say the rosary on the radio. It consisted of repeating “Hail Mary”  some number of times and then the Lord’s Prayer and some other prayer. It was too complicated for me to understand. What I did understand was he repeated the same words over and over in a monotone, with neither feeling nor enthusiasm. I won’t judge but it seemed to me to be a dull dreary kind of thing, not something that would cause people to glorify God.

The verse says we need to do it with our whole heart. Heartfelt thanksgiving. And it should be continuous.

Finally the greatest reason to glorify God.

1Co 6:20 For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's.

 

We have been bought with a price.

Jesus paid it all, All to him I owe.

Sin had left a crimson stain,

He washed it white as snow.

 Let us think today of how we should glorify God. We should be thankful when He delivers us from snares and troubles, we should let men see our good works so they will Glorify God, we should use our whole heart, our body and our spirit to glorify Him. If you are like I am, I need a reminder like this from time to time. We have much to be thankful for, but we could be more thankful, give God greater honor in our lives, praise Him a little more than we do, and study to be sure our worship is pleasing in His sight. 

 

We have a charge to keep.

Finally, it is easy to be thankful and glorify God on blue sky, sunny days of zippity-do-da, zippiti aye, but much harder on days when there is suffering. So I will leave you with this last encouraging word for today.

1Pe 4:16 Yet if any man suffer as a Christian,

let him not be ashamed;

but let him glorify God on this behalf.