For even though they knew God, they did not glorify Him as God or give thanks, but they became futile in their thoughts, and their foolish heart was darkened. Professing to be wise, they became fools, and exchanged the glory of the incorruptible God for an image in the likeness of corruptible man and of birds and four-footed animals and crawling creatures.     Romans 1:21-23 LSB

What does it mean to glorify God? The dictionary defines it as praise and worship and acknowledging and revealing the majesty of God’s splendor through one’s actions. When we live our lives in a way that is pleasing to God and we obey His commandments, we bring glory to Him, or we glorify Him.  When we praise and worship Him, we bring Him glory.

As Paul says here, knowing God and glorifying God are two different things. We may know God, but not we glorify Him through our praise, worship, or the way we live our lives.

Remember a few days ago when we looked at Romans 1:18-20. Paul is continuing to talk about those who suppress the truth of God by their unrighteous behavior.

We can know God, we can acknowledge His existence, but it’s all about being in a close loving relationship with Him. This is what God desires from us. If we have surrendered our lives to Him, we are grateful for the salvation He provided for us through His Son, Jesus Christ. We want to praise Him, worship Him and bring Him glory and honor in all we do.

Our Scripture passage says their thoughts became futile and their hearts were darkened. God created us to be in close fellowship with Him. He wants us to be His children. He wants to be our God. He wants to love us and protect us and be our shelter and our refuge in times of trouble. We must understand, however, that He never forces this on us. He gives us free will. If we want all the goodness God provides, we must draw near to Him. James 4:7-8 tells us to submit to God, resist the devil and he will flee from you. Draw near to God and He will draw near to you.

God is there waiting for you to come to Him, but the choice is yours.  Now, it’s foolish to resist God because when we fail to draw near to God, we are actually drawing near to the devil. Again, we have the choice to do so. However, when we choose to reject God and rebel against Him, He will not honor that behavior.

If we want to be foolish, He will not only allow it but will help it along. One of the saddest Scripture passages I have ever read aside from Romans 1 is found in Isaiah 6:9 where God tells Isaiah, “Go, and tell this people: Keep on hearing, but do not understand; Keep on seeing, but do not know.” God tells Isaiah that the Israelites have rejected Him repeatedly and He will be dealing harshly with them. He goes on to say, “Render their hearts insensitive, their ears dull, and their eyes dim because if they could see with their eyes and hear with their ears, they would return to Him and be healed.”

It’s very foolish to reject God. But if we want to be foolish, God will not only allow it but will aid in it. So, be very careful and pray for wisdom and discernment.

It’s one thing to be foolish on our own, but it’s a whole other thing to have the kind of foolishness that God allows to come upon us when we reject Him.

God is a good, loving Father. It is very wise to bring Him glory, honor and praise not only in the things we say but in the things we do. Act wisely, be grateful and glorify Him.

Have a great day!