“Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you.”
Psalm 63:3 (NIV)

 

Do you ever contemplate the purpose of life? Have you ever engaged in a philosophical conversation with a friend who asks, “Why are we here?”

The answer is: we were created for His glory (Isaiah 43:7).

An easy answer, but one that carries profound consequences.  Realizing life is not about me is a game-changer. It brings a paradigm shift that transforms my dullness and dreariness to joy and purpose. It infuses energy and direction to an otherwise aimless, plod-through-get-through day-to-day life.

My buy-in—my all-in—for Him releases me from the narcissistic mindset that tells me my way is best.  It re-channels my competitive nature to pour myself into making much of Him.  It releases me from the addiction to self.  I live to make much of Him. I trade up the temporary happy of Laura’s way for the eternal joy of yielding to Jesus’s way.

I am here to bring Him glory.

And my love for Him makes this a joy. Borrowing from Elizabeth Barrett Browning, “let me count the ways.” There are so many reasons to bring Him glory:

• He created me.
• He came. He came for us.
• He died. He died for me.
• He rose.  He has power over death.
• He intercedes for me.
• He hears me when I pray.
• He knows everything about me and still loves me.
• He is all-powerful.
• He is omniscient.
• He sent His Spirit to live in me.
• He loves me too much to leave me as I am.
• He is a kind and gentle teacher.
• He gave me His Word – the Bible.
• He never gives up on me.
• He always forgives.
• He brings peace.
• He is coming for me.
• He gives me hope and a future.

The list—like His nature—is unending. So many reasons to love Him, to praise Him, to bring Him glory. But the trait that overlays all others is love. Love is not only an adjective describing his nature.  God is love.  He is the noun and the verb. Jesus and love are synonyms in God’s thesaurus.

And having tasted His love, I can harmonize with the Psalmist, adding my voice to those down through the ages who sing to God, “Because your love is better than life, my lips will glorify you” (Psalm 6:3 NIV).

For many of us, life is full of good things.  Family, children. Home. Job. His love is greater than even these good things we have in our bountiful lives.

Others of us live a life filled with hard things.  Challenges that threaten to break us under the weight of stress and uncertainty. In those circumstances, perhaps it’s even easier to proclaim His love as greater than this hard life.

Either way, circumstances do not dictate our reality. Good things or bad things. Well fed or hungry. Poverty or riches. The love of God is better than all of it.

His love is better than life. His love trumps all this life offers to tease, tempt, medicate, satiate, satisfy, or distract.

His love is better than life because it is the real life—eternal, timeless, and true.

Paul described it to Timothy as “the life that is truly life” in I Timothy 6:19.

Forget the plastic, counterfeit, temporary. Chase the real life. It can be found only in Jesus. He alone is worthy of our praise. He alone is worthy of our glory.

Forget the plastic, counterfeit, temporary. Chase the real life. It can be found only in Jesus. He alone is worthy of our praise. He alone is worthy of our glory. Click To Tweet

My lips will glorify Him during the hard times. On those days, it is an act of my will, as I trust my emotions will catch up.

My lips will glorify Him during the good times. When life is good and all is well, my lips overflow with the joy in my heart, as my emotions spontaneously glorify Him.

Whatever my circumstances, I will glorify Him. My heart is full of Jesus. My lips are the bucket to the well of my heart, hauling up and pouring out what is there.  It’s Jesus.

Because His love is better than life, I glorify Him!