Location and TimesWe glorify God by living to God. ‘That they which live should not live to themselves, but unto him who died for them’ (2 Cor. 5:15). ‘Whether we live, we live unto the Lord’ (Rom. 14:8). The Mammonist lives to his money, the Epicure lives to his belly; the design of a sinner’s life is to gratify lust, but we glorify God when we live to God. We live to God when we live to his service, and lay ourselves out wholly for God. The Lord has sent us into the world, as a merchant sends his factor beyond the seas to trade for him. We live to God when we trade for his interest, and propagate his gospel. God has given every man a talent; and when a man does not hide it in a napkin, but improves it for God, he lives to God. When a master in a family, by counsel and good example, labours to bring his servants to Christ; when a minister spends himself, and is spent, that he may win souls to Christ, and make the crown flourish upon Christ’s head; when the magistrate does not wear the sword in vain, but labours to cut down sin, and to suppress vice; this is to live to God, and this is glorifying God. ‘That Christ might be magnified, whether by life or by death’ (Phil. 1:20). Three wishes Paul had, and they were all about Christ; that he might be found in Christ, be with Christ, and magnify Christ.
Who or what are we living for? What demands our time and our interest? What are we investing in?