Glorify God from your home

Who is in your home? Whether you are a parent, teenager or student, we want to encourage you to keep striving to love whoever God has placed in your life. 

Galatians 6:9 encourages those facing apathy to continue to glorify the goodness of God. “And let us not grow weary of doing good, for in due season we will reap, if we do not give up.”

Recognise a need

God prepares us each for specific tasks. We are uniquely equipped to glorify God in different ways, and in order to recognise how we can best serve Him, we must first reflect. To help you meditate on how God has equipped you in this season, take a look at last week’s blog on how to find stillness and solitude in everyday life. 

Issues such as isolation, injustice and anger have recently been highlighted in our communities. We would encourage you to consider how God has placed you around individuals and groups and how you can spread Christ’s mercy, grace and love within that circle.

Celebrate the small wins

Nineteenth-century pastor Horatius Bonar says that the Christian life is “made of daily littles”. How often does it feel like we go through our days and weeks accomplishing small tasks but not achieving big wins? It may bring us great comfort, then, to realise that often this is exactly where He wants us. We don’t have to preach on the streets or experience radical healing (although He can place us in these situations too!). Instead, we obey Him.

“Therefore, my dear brothers and sisters, stand firm. Let nothing move you. Always give yourselves fully to the work of the Lord, because you know that your labour in the Lord is not in vain.” (1 Corinthians 15:58) Even the smallest tasks, which at first glance may seem insignificant, emphasise God’s glory. 

If we continue looking at what 1 Corinthians offers us when looking to glorify God, we see how even the intricacies of everyday life bring Him glory. “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31)

With the food and drink we put in our bodies, we glorify Him. By taking out our neighbour’s trash, buying a co-worker lunch, donating to Black Lives Matter, writing poetry or exercising, we glorify Him. 

Practical steps

If you’re struggling to find compassion and feel yourself slipping into scepticism and doubt as a result of apathy, consider the practical steps we can take to re-centring ourselves around sharing the love of Jesus Christ in our communities. 

• Create a plan

If you have established a particular need in your family or circle of friends, spend an hour or two considering how God has equipped you to meet this need. Timothy 3:16-17 says that the Word of God makes us “competent, equipped for every good work.” Ask the Lord to guide you to certain passages of scripture to help equip you for service. 

• Use your resources

What is around you at home? Whether you’re living in a one-bedroom apartment or spacious family home, there could be certain ways you can help your community. For example, if you live in an apartment building, who lives across the hall and how can you serve them? You can still maintain 2-metre distance even if you go grocery shopping for a vulnerable person or pick up their children from school.

• Phone a friend

Who comes to mind when we say: check up on a friend. Maybe two or three names pop into your head. Why not send them a text today and ask to call when they’re not busy? Particularly if someone is facing isolation as a result of staying at home during COVID-19, God can work through a simple phone call. 

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Invite God to work in your life today through a simple prayer: Lord, increase my awareness of where you have placed me today. Help me understand who is around me and how I can demonstrate the love of Jesus Christ. Deliver me from apathy and let me glorify you. Amen.

Next week we’ll take a look at what it means to use our God-ordained gifts to bring glory to Him.