Giving Glory

"Not to us, O Lord, not to us but to your name be the glory, because of your love and faithfulness."
Psaln 115:1

When God gave Moses the ten commandments, the first one must have raised some eyebrows. Surrounding nations who would later find out about it, must have been baffled by this commandment. Even the Israelites themselves, had trouble adjusting to the command. God said, "You shall have no other gods before me." (Exodus 20:3). The nations of the known world worshiped multiple gods. Of course all of them were idols, but the majority of the world lived in a polytheistic state. Having many gods was the norm. With the one command, God revealed his desire to change the world to a monotheistic environment. He wanted everyone to worship only him.
    With this command, we are introduced to the fact that God is jealous. He does not want to share his glory with anyone else. This includes any image that is thought of as a god, or any person. Throughout the Bible, we read of earthly kings who were destroyed by God because they took glory for themselves. People thought of them as Gods and the kings basked in it. God would not allow this to happen and the kings were destroyed. Often their kingdoms were overthrown, given to other rulers or conquered by other kingdoms. God is jealous.
    In the book of Acts, the apostles were often worshiped as gods, by people who saw them perform miracles and speak the truth of the kingdom. In every case, they would not allow it to happen. They always told the people that they were men themselves and the glory must go to the one true God.
    This short history lesson has a purpose. We need to continually give God glory. God's requirements of us are to love him and give him glory. That's it. When we understand that we serve the one God who created everything, both known and unknown, the only response is to praise him. When we realize that this same God has chosen to have intimate relationships with each of us, the only possible response is to love and obey him. We are no different than the peoples of old. We must give glory to God. Even though we are empowered to do great things, it is God who receives the praise because he is the source of the power. Even though we have great positions in the kingdom of God, he receives the glory because he gives us the positions. Let's praise him more. Let's give him ALL the glory. For HE ALONE is worthy!