“In love, He predestined us to adoption as sons through Jesus Christ to Himself, according to the kind intention of His will, to the praise of the glory of His grace, which He freely bestowed on us in the Beloved” (Ephesians 1:5-6 NASB)

These few words of Apostle Paul bring clarity in a Christian’s heart. Firstly, God loves humanity to such an extent, that we are accounted as adopted children – adopted into the family of God. His love is qualified by the kind intention of His will. It is proven by God the Father by sending His son, Jesus, to redeem us from the world of sin. He freely bestowed love through the gospel act of Christ dying on the cross for you and me: “For He rescued us from the domain of darkness, and transferred us to the kingdom of His beloved Son” (Colossians 1: 13 NASB)

Lately, I have a deep inner need to praise God as his child. He adopted you and me — those who accept Christ — into His family — via or in the Beloved. Paul makes this clear: this adoption inculcates the praise of the glory of His grace. Moreover, God has revealed His love via the gospel – revealed as His grace — again the kind intention of His will is emphasised: “He made known to us the mystery of His will, according to His kind intention which He purposed in Him” (v 9)

Why do we give praise to His glory? Children look up to a kind father, ideally, trusted as a glorious being full of power working for our benefit and happiness. In this sense, they are loved — wooed into the glory a harmonious unity in a respectful, loving relationship within a family. We can acknowledge that the glory of God is seen in the majestic goodness of a God who adopted us into His kingdom by the kind intention of His will.

And what is the glory of God? As infinite as God’s glory itself, the question the answer is beyond our understanding. As we grow in our relationship with God – as we study the Word – in the old testament we begin to see God’s reputation gaining weight as He reveals Himself as Creator, Provider, Judge, and Redeemer — ultimately a God of Mercy, Love, and Grace. When we see God the Father in the New Testament, we see the kind intention of His will more fully in the character of Jesus. In Jesus, God’s glory elicits praise: “if you have seen me you have seen the father” Jesus told Philip.

We are also made aware that Christ was very active in the creation of the world and the human race. We must understand that Jesus was the great “I am” who selected Moses to lead His people out of Egypt – the God who later revealed Himself to Moses as “Yahweh.” “Before Abraham, I am,” Jesus said. Many do not realise that Jesus is one with God, and fully God the Creator and the Redeemer of all time. Paul referred to Jesus as the Rock that followed them in the wilderness. In Colossians 1:15-18, Paul makes it clear that Jesus created everything (see also John 1:3. Hebrews 1:2):

He is the image of the invisible God, the firstborn of all creation. For by Him all things were created, both in the heavens and on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or dominions or rulers or authorities — all things have been created through Him and for Him. He is before all things, and in Him, all things hold together. He is also head of the body, the church; and He is the beginning, the firstborn from the dead so that He Himself will come to have first place in everything.

We begin to see the collaborative unity of intent of Jesus working with the Father to redeem humanity, as his very own children – to bring them back from a state of rebellion. The message of grace contains another reason why we glorify God: “God willed to make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery” and this glory is one that places our hope in the gospel mystery of “Christ in you, the hope of glory” (Colossians 1:27). Our “hearts may be encouraged…in love…that comes from the full assurance of understanding, resulting in a true knowledge of God’s mystery, that is, Christ Himself” (ch 2, v 2).

As Creator God our above quote indicates that Jesus created the world as a place where he would be known, served, praised, and worshipped — a place where His glory would be both manifest and enjoyed. What God set out to accomplish at the beginning, he will bring to pass at the end of all things (see Rev 21: 15—22: 5).

This world, God designed as a family home wherein an image of himself representing love in human beings, would radiate His glory. Words of Christ such as “allow the little children to come unto me” make sense when He is seen as Creator God.

The human body is an engineered masterpiece; childbirth is miraculous; the mercy and justice that humans can understand and display as they relate to one another are multifaceted. Akin to our Father, we can express love to others, reach out for relational engagement, utilise our reasoning powers for creative development. In short, we were created to reflect the very glory of the One whose image we bear.

God endowed us as his image-bearers with the capacity to use all our powers in elevating worship of the One who made us, sustains us, and created us for himself as His representatives — and in the kind intention of His will, He has brought mankind back to Himself in His Son Jesus Christ, the hope of this glory.

This is the reason why we should glorify both God the Father and His Son, with our whole heart!