BIBLE LESSON

“So for the second time they called the man who had been blind, and they said to him, `Give glory to God! We know that this man is a sinner.'”

— John 9:24

God the Father, Jesus the Son, and the Holy Spirit glorify one another and themselves when they reveal the truth about their nature and character in creation and in the Bible. The Bible supremely reveals their glory. In John 2:11, Jesus revealed His glory when He changed water into wine in a way that the bridegroom received the honor for what Jesus did. In John 9:3-7, Jesus glorified God when He did the work of God and healed the man born blind. Throughout the Gospel of John, we see how the Father glorifies Jesus and Jesus glorifies the Father. Jesus and the disciples glorified God when they told the truth to God (the truth about God and themselves) and the truth about God to others. Glorifying God involves more than simply repeating in a form of praise what we know about God's nature and character. We glorify God when we worship God and obey God's will (see John 9:31). To glorify God, we must love God, our neighbor, and others as Jesus loves us. In John 13:34, Jesus declared, “I give you a new commandment, that you love one another. Just as I have loved you, you also should love one another.” In the Bible, the Pharisees and hypocrites thought they glorified God and insisted others glorify God the way they did, but they did not love God or their neighbors. We must beware that in the name of glorifying God we do not think we can glorify God while condemning and refusing to love those with whom we disagree.