Bringing honor to God: (John 12:1-18)

We talk about it all the time in churches across the world that we are to glorify God.  But have we ever stopped to think about what that really means?  We come together as the church and sing songs that are to bring Him glory, we listen to pastors talk about bringing glory to God, we may even pray that we live lives that bring glory to God, but what does it mean for our everyday life?  We look at the first part of John chapter 12 and we see Christ sitting and Mary brings in an expensive perfume pours it on His head (found in Mt. 26:1-6, and Mark 14:3-9) and wiped it on His feet with her hair.  It was common back then to anoint the head of the guest with oil, but this was a great honor she did.   The main part of glorifying, is bringing honor to the one we are glorifying.  Mary was not just a part time glorifier though, no she wanted to bring great honor to Christ, She brought out the good oil, and she didn’t stop at the head she then wiped His feet with her hair.  This upset some, but that did not bother Mary no She wanted to bring as much honor as she could to her God.

This reminds me of when I graduated College, it was a great honor as you walked across the platform, to have a professor stand up and shake your hand as you received your diploma.  But the thing about that kind of honor is it fades quickly.  No one remembers it after  awhile, as you move on in life many of those you meet do not even care how professors stood and shook your hand.   Yet many of us are giving that Kind of glory and honor to God.  We are like those in John 12:12-19, They shouted and screamed Hosanna  for the moment.  Only later in the week the very same people would be screaming crucify him.  They were not ready to give everything to God.  They wanted to be a part of the crowd that was there when things went good but, the type of glory and honor they brought was just to truly bring them more honor then it was meant to give honor to Christ. 

The questions we must ask ourselves are, are we ready to give everything to God?  Are we willing to be a Mary, to be the person who truly honors God in all we do?  What this means is that we no longer do things that bring glory to us but we do them to bring glory to Christ our savior we are not ashamed of our God.  When we do things that are good we give the glory to God who strengthened us.  When we work hard we do so that it brings glory to God not to us.  When give to the poor we do not do it to make ourselves look good but to make God look good.   Or do we just want to be a part of the crowd, the crowd that goes wherever the wind blows it?  They truly have no one belief, they are wanting to only bring glory to them, and will trample over you if need be to get ahead.  The thing about going with the crowd or just trying to bring honor to God once in a while is that it will not get us very far in the Kingdom of God. 

1^st Peter chapter four, tells us how we must live for God, He give us these words in verses 7-11.  “^ The end of all things is near;^ therefore be serious and discipline yourselves for the sake of your prayers. ^ Above all, maintain constant love for one another, for love covers a multitude of sins. ^Be hospitable to one another without complaining. ^Like good stewards of the manifold grace of God, serve one another with whatever gift each of you has received. ^ Whoever speaks must do so as one speaking the very words of God; whoever serves must do so with the strength that God supplies, so that God may be glorified in all things through Jesus Christ. To him belong the glory and the power forever and ever. Amen^”