Psalm 50:23 Whoso offereth praise glorifieth me: and to him that ordereth his conversation aright will I shew the salvation of God.

When done right this Christian life can be a real blessing to ourselves and those close to us. What I often witness is how easy it is to take credit for what God has done. Man in all his sincere humility is still a cooperative partner in Christianity. We cannot separate ourselves from the acts of God done thru us. They are acts of God, they are not acts of men.

Glorifying God cannot be done without two essential truths. Christ in us and us in Christ. Glory is defined as the reputation and essence of God in the form of Jesus Christ. Reputation is seen in praise. How would the lost know God without praise, without a witness? If we order our conversations correctly, in the praise of God, Christ can be seen for He is God’s glory manifested in us.

Yet it is a cooperative. We need to control our praise and do our best not to take credit for what God has done. Paul states in Romans 7 that he finds no good thing in him, meaning his flesh. Throughout his epistles he constantly uses the term “in Christ”. If we will but put forth the attitude that we are first “in Christ” then our actions stem from the throne. If we put forth Christ in us, we glorify the flesh, as if the vessel is more important than the contents.

Some might feel like this is splitting hairs but I must ask, how thick does the line have to be before you are aware of it? Once you have crossed the line you have stolen God’s glory. It may not be as sinful as open rebellion but it is wrong still the same.

Do we have to wait for His chastening to know we are wrong?

Psalm 119:93 I will never forget thy precepts: for with them thou hast quickened me.

It sounds like all you have to do is read your bible and your life will be forever changed. OK in some ways that is absolutely true. I also read Fred Reinfeld’s The Complete Chess Course and my life was changed forever. For others it might have been The Art of War by Sun Tzu. Various books awaken within people an interest which they had never before contemplated. A sense of coming alive is found in giving a person some passion or purpose in life.

John 6:63 It is the spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing: the words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life.

In one sense words can make you feel alive, awaken something in you that you did not know existed. This is the flesh feeling. All feelings are fleeting as they are born of emotional satisfaction. Our emotions are dependent upon circumstance. External influences can and do change our emotions. There is no lasting effect in mere words.

The truest meaning of quicken is the restoration of what was lost. Only the Holy Spirit can restore your soul to a right relationship with God. We lost that in the garden due to the sin of one man, Adam. It was not something we did to lose that right standing. In that same sense there is nothing we can do to restore that right standing. It is the purview of God to restore thru the power of the Holy Spirit.

Reading your bible may make you feel good, but it does not make you good.

Philippians 3:9 And that I may [actually] be found and known as in Him, not having any [self-achieved] righteousness that can be called my own, based on my obedience to the Law’s demands (ritualistic uprightness and supposed right standing with God thus acquired), but possessing that [genuine righteousness] which comes through faith in Christ (the Anointed One), the [truly] right standing with God, which comes from God by [saving] faith. AMPC