Salvation for the Glory of God Only
Our confessional theology is often centered on God, but our functional theology is centered on the human being. In other words, we do things and say "glory to God," but inside of us, we make them with the intention that someone recognizes them and, if that recognition does not occur, we feel bad because ultimately, what we did, what we did, what we did confessionally for the glory of God, but functionally for our own glory.
There are reasons why many do not like the idea that everything is made for the glory of God. In fact on more than one occasion, believers have asked me if it is not selfish on God's part that everything has to be done for the glory of God. And the reason is very simple.
We think that God is just like us (Psalm 50:21). On the one hand, we do something, and we do it exclusively thinking of ourselves. In the case of God, whenever He glorifies Himself, the human being is benefited.
God was glorified in creation and we received the benefit of being created. God was glorified in the salvation of the lost and we were redeemed. God is glorified in marriage and man receives a suitable help. God is glorified in procreation and the cattle of man grow and that same person receives children who bring him joy.
God is glorified in biblical sexuality and the human being enjoys the holy pleasure. God is for Him and for man at the same time, in that order.13 When someone does something and, after doing so, insists on taking away all the credit, that attitude bothers us and we think that the person is being very proud and their pride It irritates us. But why does it bother or irritate us when someone acts that way? It bothers us, first, because we understand that that person is trying to draw attention to himself.
That does not happen with God because God is never trying to be the center of attention ... He is the center of attention. God does not have to fight to be the center of attention like us because He is the center and the periphery of all the attention of the universe. When the sun rises every morning, he says without words: "Glory to God."
When a huge whale leaps out of the water and we see it in all its beauty, it is saying "glory to God." And the whole universe does the same. God is the center of attention.
When someone wants to be applauded, it bothers us because in our self-centeredness we understand that that person wants to be praised and applauded and we do not like to recognize others, much less if we are not going to be recognized as well. God does not have that problem.
When God demands that things be done for His glory, He is not seeking to be applauded and praised because, in fact, even after applauding God, we fall short of the tribute He deserves.
After worshiping our God, He is not more complete or happier than before receiving worship. God is satisfied with himself from eternity. Worship is something we must give to God because He is the source and source of all good in the universe. There has not been and will not be any good done in this life or in the future from which God is not responsible in one way or another.
When someone wants us to take it into account, it bothers us because we understand that many times that person is so insecure that he needs continually the approval of others. That has never been the experience of God. God does not ask that He be the glory because He feels insecure. There has not been a single moment of insecurity in the life of God.
He is the source of all certainty. When someone does something and wants all the credit, it bothers us because we know that all the credit does not belong to him. His parents, his teachers, his friends or even his wife often deserve some of the credit for having supported him along the way.
But that is not the case with God because when you and I do something, all the credit is from God: He put both the will and the doing (Phil 2:13); He also gave us the gifts, the talents, the opportunities, the intelligence, the strength and the resources to do it. That is why the apostle Paul asks in 1 Corinthians 4: 7: "What do you have that you did not receive? And if you received it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? "
On the other hand, we do not give credit to another person because in the end that makes us feel that they deserve something that we do not deserve or make us feel consciously or unconsciously inferior or we feel that we can do a similar role. In the case of God, we are inferior to Him and there is no way we can play a role like Him.
Final reflection
Creation is of the Lord, as is redemption. God created us when He did not need us and God saved us when He could have condemned us by exercising His justice.
In Him we live, move and exist (Acts 17: 8). He predestined us, called us, justified us and glorified us. On the way we were receptors of the physical life that He gave us and of the spiritual life that He bought for us. After being saved, he continues to place in us both the will and the doing and preserves us in the way of truth.
God the Father made the election in eternity past, God the Son offered the sacrifice and God the Holy Spirit sanctifies and preserves us. Christ came, completed all the work of redemption on our behalf and then ascended to heaven to prepare a place for us and from there intercedes for us.
This is what makes the psalmist (with less revelation than those on the New Testament side) exclaim: "Not to us, Lord, not to us, but to your name [be given the] glory" (Psalm 115). : 1a).
So is; we are not puppets, but every ability that we possess in one way or another has come from our God. Certainly "from Him, through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be the glory forever. Amen".
To Him be the glory, in everything and forever!