By Todd Paetznick, August 29, 2024

According to the Westminster Shorter Catechism, man’s chief end is to  “glorify God and enjoy Him forever.”  I have spent a fair amount of time pondering what I should do to glorify God and what that means.  However, the second part of the statement, enjoying God forever, is also worth consideration.  

Glorifying God seems like something people can do to earn God’s favor. The adage that “nothing is free” feels like it should fit.  In our minds, there has to be a cost to salvation; there has to be something we need to do to earn God’s favor.

But the Bible teaches that we are saved by grace through faith.  “For by grace you have been saved through faith; and this [is] not of yourselves, [it is] the gift of God” (Ephesians 2:8 NASB20).  The concept of grace means that salvation and our relationship with God are undeserved; grace is connected to this “gift” from God.  There is no quid pro quo when it comes to salvation.  Many people expect they should do something to get something they desire.  But God’s grace operates very differently from what we experience in the business, where we trade something of value to get something we value more.  The grace offered by God does not make business sense.   

Common Grace.  

As a part of His Sermon on the Mount,  Jesus describes a concept we call “common grace.” Common grace means God extends His goodness and favor to all people, not just Christians, Jews, or His followers.  “[Jesus said,] love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you, so that you may prove yourselves to be sons of your Father who is in heaven; for He causes His sun to rise on [the] evil and [the] good, and sends rain on [the] righteous and [the] unrighteous” (Matthew 5:44-45).  

God’s grace is not what we expect; He demonstrates His love, even for enemies, by offering good gifts to everyone.  The world is filled with beauty that God made for everyone to enjoy.  Beauty is one of those things that has no place in evolution; there is no practical purpose for beautiful things that evoke an emotional response.  God has created a world for us to enjoy and appreciate.  Everyone may enjoy a sunset, a flower, a forest, a scenic mountain range, or a tropical beach.  God expresses love to everyone, even people who deny His existence, refuse to obey His commands, or fail to give Him the glory and credit He deserves.  

The Christ-follower takes the time to honor God and thank Him for the beauty of creation and the sun and rain to grow crops and sustain our lives. These gifts are for everyone, not just God-followers. They are examples of common grace. But the Christ-follower remembers the creator, the source of all good things. 

Interestingly, when Jesus taught His followers to love their enemies, His illustration was an example of common grace.  This should remind us that when we strive to be like Him, what we do should be for all people, not just fellow Christians.  We are called to seek the good of the communities in which we live.  Like God, we are to extend common grace to everyone, even our enemies.  “Beloved, I urge [you] as foreigners and strangers to abstain from fleshly lusts, which wage war against the soul. Keep your behavior excellent among the Gentiles, so that in the thing in which they slander you as evildoers, they may because of your good deeds, as they observe [them,] glorify God on the day of visitation” (1Peter 2:11-12).