I’m reading more of my study in Exodus, led by Dr. Bill Mounce.  In this portion, he notes that the point of the Exodus was for God to reveal the purpose of our lives: to reflect more of His glory.  The plagues, the crossing of the red sea, the wandering in the wilderness – all of this was to point to God’s ultimate glory.

If you are like me, you may be stopping and saying, “Isn’t the Exodus also about me knowing God more intimately?”  In part.  But the real reason for the Exodus is to take ourselves out of the center of our lives, and place God as the center.  Mounce notes:

“God is most interested above everything else in His own glory, thanksgiving and praise being given to Him above everything else.  Let me define that first in reverse, then we’ll come back and look at it.  Sin says, “I am the center of the universe.”  Sin says, “I am to pursue my own good.”  Sin says, “I am to pursue my own self interests.”  Sin says, “I am to praise myself”, right?  That’s the whole thrust of sin to remove God from the center of the universe, to remove God from the center of our lives and to put our miserable selves on the throne of our lives and to declare that we are the center of the universe “

I’m humbled by the thought that the primary purpose of my life is to show his glory, because I know that the strongest pull in my heart is to give myself glory.

I can clearly see the tug in my heart because I see a pattern continually happen in my own life.  Somehow my prayers become less of a praise for who God is, and more a laundry list of needs for God to attend to.  Somehow my extra time becomes “my time”, and I’m unwilling to give even a portion of it over to God.  This is all because I slowly let myself become the center.

Even as I read Mounce’s words today thoughts flashed in my mind like, “Why is God so selfish?”, or “Why is he such a glory hog?”.  Then I’m reminded of how worthy he is of the glory. His consistency toward me is unmatched.  His wisdom continues to blow my tiny little brain. He is the only one capable of truly changing the desires of my heart.

How wrong and confusing it would be for God to give anything else glory? What a let down would it be if God was interested in giving a human glory?  It would be against who he is!

I’ll leave you with a quote from Mounce that challenged me.  I hope it will challenge you, and that you’ll come to the same outcome as I did – that God indeed is worthy of more glory in my life.

What is it called when we put ourselves at the center of everything,  when everything is, “Well, how does this make me feel?”   It’s called idolatry, isn’t it?   It’s called idolatry because I am not the greatest good in this universe.  I am not the highest goal.  I am not God.  And if Sunday morning is about me or about you, if church is about a human being, if our lives are about us, then we are idolaters because we have usurped the place of God and that He alone is to be the center.

God is the greatest good.  God is our most satisfying joy.  He is the center of the universe, and therefore, we must praise Him, not ourselves, in everything we do. Whether we eat or drink, whatever we do, Paul tells the Corinthians, “Do all to the glory of God.”