My wife Teresa and I are going through a bit of a tough time right now around church: which church should we attend?
This is always a tough choice: as my mother reminds me from time to time, you don’t just choose for yourselves, you choose for your children.
In our case, it’s particularly tough as we go to a smallish church, which means that any member leaving is a cut deeply felt. Leaving means leaving friends – you can say “we’ll keep in touch,” but realistically you won’t. Or even if you do, it won’t be the same. And in our case, my parents go to our church as well, and they – naturally – would really like us to stay.
Something that my sister Maria mentioned to me yesterday made a lot of sense. The one question to answer, she said, when making choices in life is: will God be glorified?
Should I switch jobs: will God be glorified?
Should I go to a different church: will God be glorified?
Should I move: will God be glorified?
It’s a very good question. Our purpose on this planet is to know God, to worship Him, to enjoy Him, to glorify Him. Therefore anything that maximizes our glorification of God is right down the strike zone of what we should be doing.
That’s some much-needed simplicity that I’ve been needing for a while. I can get so bogged down in the pros and cons of a decision, the consequences of a decision, that the key thing sometimes gets missed: what path glorifies the Creator?
It’s a question I’m going to try to keep top-of-mind every day.