Towards the end of December last year, a group of eighteen teens and three adults led by myself attended a teens conference here in Kenya by a friend named Bob Sjogren from Virginia, USA. His first question was, ‘Why did Jesus come?’ Many of the answers pointed to the fact that He came to die for us! Bob’s answer to this was that this was true but incomplete. 

Why Incomplete?

The apostle Paul in writing to the Colossian believers gives us one of the reasons that Christ came.

“For it pleased the Father that in Him all fullness should dwell, and by Him to reconcile all things to Himself, whether things on earth or things in heaven, having made peace through the blood of His cross.”

Colossians 1:19-20 NKJV

I had read this verse several times because Colossians is one of my favourite books in the Bible, but it had never stood out for me as it did during this conference. As a person, I don’t like having the focus on me and would rather just blend into the background and watch the world go by (unless, of course, I am sharing the Gospel, which is all about Him). You can imagine how happy I was to move from what is commonly taught, ‘He came to die for you,’ and to appreciate that I am a small but significant part of the bigger picture, ‘all things.’ However, Jesus Himself gave us His primary reason for coming as he predicted His death on the cross. This is captured in several verses in John.

• He went to the cross to reconcile all things in heaven and on earth to Himself, for His Father’s glory.

“Now my soul is troubled, and what shall I say? Father, save me from this hour? But for this purpose, I came to this hour. Father, glorify Your name.”

John 12:27 NKJV

• He answers our prayers so that His Father may be glorified in Him.

“And whatever you ask in My name, that I will do, that the Father may be glorified in the Son.”

John 14:13 NKJV

• He lived and worked for his Father’s Glory.

“…And this is eternal life, that they may know You, the only true God, and Jesus Christ Whom you have sent. I have glorified you on the earth. I have finished the work which You have given Me to do.”

John 17:3-4 NKJV

What ought we to do with this wonderful knowledge?

Practical Ways to Glorify Him

• Appreciate that we were created for His glory.

“Everyone who is called by My name,
Whom I have created for My glory;
I have formed him, yes, I have made him.”

Isaiah 43:7 NKJV

• Be imitators of Christ.

“Therefore be imitators of God as dear children. And walk in love, as Christ also has loved us and given Himself for us, an offering and a sacrifice to God for a sweet-smelling aroma.”

Ephesians 5:1-2 NKJV

• Let our works give glory to our Father.

“Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in Heaven.”

Matthew 5:16 NKJV

• We can learn from the Israelites what not to do!

“For my people have committed two evils: They have forsaken Me, the fountain of living waters, And hewn themselves cisterns-broken cisterns that can hold no water.”

Jeremiah 2:13 NKJV

• Praise the Lord in season and out of season as we await His soon return.

“Let everything that has breath praise the Lord!”

Psalm 150:6 NKJV

My prayer for the body of Christ is that we may not forsake Him, the fountain of living waters, by hewing for ourselves broken cisterns that can hold no water. May we make Jesus’ priority reason for coming to this earth, our own primary reason for Living.

Oh! That the name of the Father would be glorified.

References: Cat and Dog Theology: Rethinking our relationship with our Master. Revised Edition By Bob Sjogren and Gerald Robison