I’ve been reflecting on the second reading from St Paul’s first letter to the Corinthians. He writes:
“Whatever you eat, whatever you drink, whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.”
This seems such an obvious statement that it hardly needs to be said. Of course, we would want to be doing everything for the glory of God. Yet, reflecting on putting it into practice we soon realise it’s not that straightforward. We have to discover for ourselves what that might mean in our circumstances. In this short passage St Paul gives some idea of what it means in his situation:
“I try to be helpful to everyone at all times, not anxious for my own advantage but for the advantage of everyone else, so that they may be saved.”
Once again this seems very obvious, and we can easily agree that this is what strive to do. Yet to achieve this is not always straightforward. We can’t always know what will be the most helpful in any given situation. We can’t assume we know what people will need. If we are to model ourselves on Christ we have to take the time for prayer and discernment. We have to listen to people to tell us what will help them.
We also have to listen to ourselves to discern if we are in a position to offer that help. If we are to do everything as St Paul suggests “for the glory of God” we need to be generous in listening and responding. We also need to be honest and humble in admitting that we might not be able to meet every need that is presented to us.
What might it look like to do everything for the glory of God in your situation today?