"Ye are not your own. For ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's." ~ 1 Cor 6:19b-20

So, I'm taking just a small break to share with y'all something special that happened this past Lord's day! =)

Today, I taught a class to the children of Providence Church. In an effort to prepare them for our upcoming Reformation Day Faire, we discussed the first question of the Westminster Shorter Catechism, which is:

What is the chief end of man?

Answer: Man's chief end is to glorify God and to enjoy Him forever!

As we dug into the answer of this question, we came across what it means to glorify God. I had studied about it earlier, before coming in to teach them, and I pointed out that WE cannot make God anymore glorious then He is already. His glory is so great that we can do nothing to make Him more so. We are like a mirror. If you look into the mirror, what do you see? You see a reflection! That is what we are! We are to be a mirror reflecting God's glory! In Psalm 19:1 it says:

"The heavens declare the glory of God; and the firmament sheweth his handiwork." Psalm 19:1

The heavens and earth are reflecting His glory. That led us to talk about the different little things that show God's glory. I told them about a tree in my sister's front yard. She has this amazing tree! Some of you may be familiar with a plant that has leaves that curl up when you touch them (I can’t recall its name, but we always called it a “touch-me-not plant.” Well, my sister’s tree does something similar, but the most amazing part is that it doesn’t need to be touched - not only do its leaves fold, but after they have folded all of the twigs fold too, until it's just branches hanging onto the tree!

This process happens every night, but in the morning, as the sun shines it's morning rays down on this little tree, the branches obediently unfold, reminding my sister and her husband of GOD'S amazing glory!

I asked each of the children to tell me how God reminds us of His glory through things that they may have never thought of before. They all came up with so many amazing answers, from the fact that God gives us our next breath to considering chickens and how they grow inside of an egg shell, as well as beautiful flowers that only last for a day!

Then we discussed our part in living out God's glory. The plants, earth, and heavens all declare and reflect God’s glory by demonstrating His handiwork without any choice of their own. However, God let's us choose whether or not we will glorify Him in the things we say, think, live, or do. We compared the God-centered life to the self-centered life and discussed the differences in the contrasting lifestyles.

I noted that when someone claims they don’t believe there is a God there are many questions we can ask them to contradict what they "appear" to believe! I then continued to ask the children about the work people do every day. Weeding came up, so I asked them: If there isn’t a God, then how did that weed get there in the first place? You can’t make something out of nothing. How do little kids come to exist, grow into adults, marry, have more children and live their lives? Every answer was the same. It's impossible without a God who made us for His own glory!

We ended this discussion noting that there are many ways we can glorify God, but we cannot make Him any more glorious then He is already. We are made in HIS image, and we must live our lives to the glory of God, because He gave us the choice to either live for self, or for God's glory! So, with that.....how will you live your life? Will you go through life pleasing yourself, or will you strive to live for the glory of God?

Y'all be blessed, and have a brilliant week! =)

Y'all come back now, ya hear?!?!? {insert smile}