God Glorified

"If we live, we live for the Lord; and if we die, we die for the Lord. So, whether we live or die, we belong to the Lord." Romans 14:8

I know I've said it before, but I love my devotional. It's my Christian history devotional and it's awesome. Today I was reading about James Montgomery Boice, the former pastor of Tenth Presbyterian Church in Philadelphia. Back on Good Friday, in the year 2000, Boice found out he had cancer, a very aggressive form of the disease, and that his prognosis wasn't good at all. I want to share with you a portion of his final sermon, preached on May 7, 2000...

"Should you pray for a miracle? Well, you're free to do that, of course. My general impression is that the God who is able to perform miracles - and He certainly can - is also able to keep you from getting that problem in the first place...Above all, I would say pray for the glory of God."

Long before reading this entry, or really reading about Boice at all, that was my attitude about what was going on with my right foot. I know people were praying for healing, heck, I was one of them. but I also knew people were convinced that healing was going to happen, that I wouldn't lose my foot, that I wouldn't pray. More than healing, I wanted God to be glorified in my life, I hope I've made that clear as you've read this blog. More than any of my wants, I want God to be honored in my life. And when I fall short of that, I'm ok with wanting to want that God will be honored in my life, because God is great and He can work that into honoring Him.

I want to share with you the very last little bit of that sermon section...'If you think of god glorifying Himself in history and you say, "Where in all of history had God most glorified Himself?' the answer is that He did it at the cross of Jesus Christ, and it wasn't be delivering Jesus from the cross, though He could have...And yet that's where God is most glorified."

I love that message. At any point, Jesus could have come off that cross, but He didn't. He didn't because of His love for me and His love for you. I hope that you know that love. I hope that you know the sacrifice Jesus made for you and that you have made Him Lord of your life.