How to Build a Life to the Glory of God

I have to admit to a particular disdain for "how to" Bible studies: "Seven Steps to a Perfect Marriage," "How to Pray in Three Days or Less," "Forty Days to a Healthier, Wealthier, and More Prosperous You," "How to Be the Best You You Can Be," "Your Best Life Now" (oops, is that one too real?!?). Now before anyone rails my statement, keep reading. I am a lover and student of Scripture; and my problem with "how to's" is that, by and large, they ignore Scripture in its natural, contextual setting. They are nothing more than secular (and sometimes Freudian or Rogerian) psychology with some out-of-context Bible verses tacked on for Christian suitability.

However, in meditating afresh on one of my favorite verses in Scripture, I believe that the Holy Spirit has given a formula for how to build a life to the glory of God. It's not a magic formula, mind you; rather, it takes long and hard discipline, but the hard work is not worthy to be compared to the dividends that it yields. The verse is Ezra 7:10, and it reads as follows: "For Ezra had set his heart to study the Law of YHWH, and to do it and to teach his statutes and rules in Israel" (ESV). For a number of years now, I've loved and tried to pattern my life after that verse. Over the next few posts, I'm going to think/blog through this verse, taking each of its constituent parts and drawing out some principles from Scripture (in its context) for how to build a life to the glory of God.

The first consideration must be the connector "for." It's a causal conjunction, for which the effect is the last phrase of v. 9: "the good hand of his God was on him" (ESV); it could be translated "because": "the good hand of his God was on him, because...." This phrase (or some derivation of it) is said of Ezra four times in this book (7:6, 9, 28; 8:18), twice of the people of God in Ezra 8 (vv. 22, 31), and once of Nehemiah in Neh 2:8 (cf., 2:18 as well). Often the hand of God denotes judgment, but here it is specifically refered to as "the good hand of his God" (7:9). The phrase speaks of God's intent to bless the life and ministry of Ezra. Why? Because of the realities of v. 10 that were settled in his life.

Someone may say, "Well, that's Ezra; that's a minister of God." True, but one does not have to be in ministry to enjoy the blessing hand of God on his life; in fact, God desires to place His blessing hand on all of our lives. As we will see in subsequent days, however, there is a contingency statement that explains how Ezra enjoyed the good hand of his God: this blessing comes to a life built on a firm commitment to the Word of God. My prayer for my life, and I hope your prayer for your life, is that God's blessing hand will rest on me. Blessing comes through knowing God, and to know Him is to love Him. That knowledge comes through His special revelation, the Bible. My challenge to you, today, is know Him through His Word; know Christ in the pages of Scripture. Christ Himself said that to know God and Jesus Christ Whom He has sent is eternal life (Jn 17:3).