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“I am the Lord; that is my name;

my glory I give to no other,

nor my praise to carved idols.”

 – Isaiah 42:8

We are so often the recipients of God’s mercy and grace that sometimes we struggle with remembering that God is also jealous God – a God who is unwilling to share the glory that is due to Him with anything else. When hearing this, some may be tempted to think it’s arrogant – as if God has no right to demand that He alone deserves honor and praise. However, God knows that when we ascribe the glory due Him to some lesser thing, we are worshipping a false god; we are putting our confidence and hope in something that will not satisfy our deepest longings and can not meet our deepest needs. His unwillingness to share the glory due to Him does not just serve His renown – it is for our benefit as well. If He were willing to partition the praises He is due, to accept only some of our worship and adoration – He would not be the all-knowing, all-powerful, all-sufficient God that Scripture says He is. He is worthy of all praise, and as it is given Him, His creation fulfills its purpose.

If God is not willing to share His glory with anything else, we should not be found giving glory to any lesser thing. Nothing should be honored, esteemed or delighted in above the Lord. He should be our “all in all.” To Him alone should be glory and praise, and in Him alone should be our satisfaction and strength.

Unseen – “In a world where faith in Jesus may seem foolish or outdated or irrelevant, the definition of faith in Scripture stands by the better country—even if at times it eludes us. Like Abraham who looked for the city of foundations and the housekeeper who sang of unseen things, we are strangers to our own lives, setting out in the dark to look for the country we were meant to know, guided by the Spirit who wants us to see.”

The Discipline of Choices – “The choices we make, and therefore the habits we develop, are formed by obedience to the Word. ‘It is only through making the right choice to obey God’s Word that we will break the habits of sin and develop habits of holiness. This is where we desperately need the power of the Holy Spirit to enable us to make the right choices. So cry out to God every day for His help for that day, and then cry out again each time you are confronted with the choice to sin or to obey.'”

Beautiful Submission – In writing about submission and loving leadership, Luma Simms writes “To understand any of our roles we first have to understand the Godhead. Only then will any of this stuff make sense. Only then will it be shown that these roles are not cultural or social constructs but part of the warp and weft of objective reality.”

Dear Moms, Jesus Wants You To Run – This is a great follow-up to a post I shared earlier this week. Jen Wilkin writes “In matters of legalism, rest – yes – but in matters of holiness, run. Run like your hair is on fire. Cast off everything that hinders: all false measures of righteousness cloaked as homemade bread or spotless kitchen surfaces. But let your newly-found chill mentality toward Pinterest and June Cleaver free up energy to run the race that counts. Because this good work of loving God and loving others is a race for the fit and the fleet, particularly if you’re a mom.” (H/T)

John Calvin on Prayer – Calvin’s four rules for prayer are instructive for developing a more robust prayer life. This post also serves as a reminder that “Our checkered prayer life is often attacked by doubts, but such struggles show us our ongoing need for prayer itself as a ‘lifting up of the spirit’ and continually drive us to Jesus Christ, who alone will’“change the throne of dreadful glory into the throne of grace.'”