I have therefore whereof I may glory through Jesus Christ in those things which pertain to God. For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ hath not wrought by me, to make the Gentiles obedient, by word and deed, Through mighty signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God; so that from Jerusalem, and round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel of Christ. Yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel, not where Christ was named, lest I should build upon another man’s foundation: But as it is written, To whom he was not spoken of, they shall see: and they that have not heard shall understand. Romans 15:17-21

Why do we do any of the things we do? Why do we go to Church? Why do we share the gospel with others? Why do we pray for one another? Is it so we can check off the list of “Christian” things to do? Or do we do these things to give Glory to God? The Apostle Paul begins here “ I may glory through Jesus Christ” Everything we do is because Christ lives in us, not because we are righteous or because our flesh even wants to, its because we live to glorify God!

As Paul has also said “Let him who boast, boast in The Lord” (1 Corinthians 1:31) I visited a Church once where the Pastor bragged to me all the people he led to Christ, the reality is we didn’t lead anyone to Christ. People are drawn to Christ by Christ himself, and not of ourselves. If we are going to boast about anything that happened in our lives, or anything that happened in our Church, boast in The Lord. All glory needs to be given to God!

It reminds me when Mose struck the rock in the wilderness, however Moses failed to give glory to God. Moses allowed the people to give him credit for the living water in the wilderness, because of Moses disobedience, he was not allowed to enter in the Promise Land. (Numbers 20:1-12) Let this be a warning to all of us, in all things you do, give the glory to God, because without God there would be no glory. Without Christ, you would be dry bones in the valley of death, without the Holy Spirit, you would be no better than a wild donkey, its only because of God we could possibly see the Kingdom of Heaven

The Apostle Paul continues “For I will not dare to speak of any of those things which Christ has not accomplished through me” Paul acknowledges anything that He has accomplished, is because of Christ in Him. Any Gentile that has come to faith in Christ, is because of Christ himself. We are the vessels of God, (2 Corinthians 4:7) therefor in all things we do, give glory to God not ourselves!

And remember what our mission is, as the Apostle Paul stated “I have fully preached the gospel of Christ” In all things you do for God, make sure you have fully proclaimed the gospel of Jesus Christ, the only way to salvation, the only hope for a fallen world, and all glory to God our Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit, Amen!