3 Things You Can Do To Glorify God Everyday

There are a few things I believe most everyone could work on: being polite, thankfulness, and taking an interest in others.

These things sound simple enough, but they require intention and practice.

Today I want to talk to you about how these three things can glorify Jesus in your everyday life, and how you can grow in each of them.

#1. Politeness

When I was about seven my dad started teaching my sister and I a new way of asking for things. Instead of using “Can I have?” or “I’ll take,” he started training us to say, “May I please?” when we were ordering at a restaurant or asking for something we wanted.

The Bible tells us, “Let your speech always be gracious, seasoned with salt, so that you may know how you ought to answer each person,” Colossians 4:6.

This means all our words should be good and glorifying, just like salt on popcorn (delicious!). And none of our words are an exception. The words you use to talk to a waitress, a teacher, a parent, a sibling, or even a perceived “enemy” should all be good and kind words.

The Bible says in Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that by testing you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and acceptable and perfect.”

We have a choice. We can do what the world does, or we can do what God wants us to do. Is the world polite? No. Should we be polite? Yes. We should because our words mean something. Treating people politely and saying, “May I please?” rather than “Can you get me?” is honoring to God. The greatest commandment is to love God and love your neighbor as yourself.

By being polite you are loving God AND others with your words. All humans are created in God’s image and should be treated with respect.

#2. Thankfulness

How often do you send a thank you note? How often do you receive one? Handwritten notes are uncommon, and that’s a shame because it is so fun to look in your mailbox and see a letter with your name on it amongst the junk mail!

Why should we take the time to sit down and write a thank you card? Most of us are very busy people. But just like politeness, it’s against the cultural norm. Again, I bring it back to Romans 12:2, “Do not be conformed to this world…”

And the Bible has things to say about thankfulness specifically as well:

“Give thanks in all circumstances, for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus for you.” 1 Thessalonians 5:18

Most parents encourage saying please and thank you. From a young age, those words are not abnormal. When someone gets you a gift you probably either tell them thank you, or you text them thank you.

But what if we went above and BEYOND what the world expects from us? What if we sent them a thank you card—handwritten, maybe even handmade? What if we said thank you, even when it wasn’t expected? You know your favorite teacher or your good friend? Do they know how much you appreciate them? You can do so many things to say thank you: buy them something, write them something, make them something, write on the envelope of a card five things you just adore about them. Let them know they’re loved.

#3. Taking An Interest in Others

Another thing my dad taught me is to ask people questions. We all like to have people take an interest in our lives. So, when we ask others questions and take an interest in them, we make them feel important.

The Bible has something to say about this as well, “Do nothing from selfish ambition or conceit, but in humility count others more significant than yourselves. Let each of you look not only to his own interests, but also to the interests of others,” (Philippians 2:3-4).

Our culture is very self-focused. Just think about it! People post pictures of the fun things they are doing for everyone to see. When you take a picture, you can put a filter on it to make you look “better”. It’s all about how WE look, how many followers WE have, what people think of US.

But the Bible promotes a different lifestyle for us to live by! And when we take an interest in others, not only are we doing what the Bible commands, but we are also glorifying God in our conversation, and we’re going against the patterns of this world.

In thinking about this, I also want you to know that this doesn’t mean you can’t talk about yourself or the things you are doing. If you never talk about yourself, it will be hard for people to get to know you. There needs to be a balance. Not everything should be about you, and you shouldn’t always bring it back to you, and hopefully, your friends have the same mindset. You will encounter people in this life who make it all about them. I have a few of those people for friends. And I tell you, it can be hard and frustrating when they never take an interest in me and only talk about themselves. When this happens to me, it makes me want to talk about myself more because it seems like no one else is going to! But when we talk, we should talk from the right place: not because we want the spotlight, but because we have something worth saying.

A Final Challenge

Here at the Rebelution, we’re all about doing hard things. And I have a challenge for you. The timer has started, within the next week do all the following:

• Write three thank you notes to people.
• Work on being polite and saying things like “May I please?”
• Make a point to ask people questions. Set a goal for yourself like: I’m going to ask every friend I talk to today at least one question. Make the goal, then meet it.
• Memorize Romans 12:2

Be sure to come back in a week and let us know how you did!