All the main versions agree on this one: whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God!
KJV: Whether therefore ye eat, or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God.
ESV: So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
NIV: So whether you eat or drink or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
NKJV: Therefore, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
NLT: So whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do it all for the glory of God.
NASB: Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.
Let’s dissect it a little bit:
So what does glory mean exactly? This is what Merriam-Webster says…
1 a: praise, honor, or distinction extended by common consent : renown b: worshipful praise, honor, and thanksgiving <giving glory to God>2 a: something that secures praise or renown <the glory of a brilliant career> b: a distinguished quality or asset3 a (1): great beauty and splendor : magnificence <the glory that was Greece and the grandeur that was Rome — E. A. Poe> (2): something marked by beauty or resplendence <a perfect glory of a day> b: the splendor and beatific happiness of heaven; broadly : eternity4 a: a state of great gratification or exaltation <when she’s acting she’s in her glory>And now, an enlightening note by John Piper, explaining how to drink orange juice to the glory of God.
Some of you then asked the practical question: Well, how do you “eat and drink” to the glory of God? Say, orange juice for breakfast?
One answer is found in 1 Timothy 4:3-5: “[Some] forbid marriage and advocate abstaining from foods which God has created to be gratefully shared in by those who believe and know the truth. For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with gratitude; for it is sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.”
Orange juice was “created to be received with gratitude by those who believe the truth.” Therefore, unbelievers cannot use orange juice for the purpose God intended-namely, as a occasion for heartfelt thanksgiving to God from a truth heart of faith.
But believers can, and this is how they glorify God. Their drinking orange juice is “sanctified by means of the word of God and prayer.” The word of God teaches us that juice, and even our strength to drink it, is a free gift of God (1 Corinthians 4:7; 1 Peter 4:11). The prayer is our humble response of thanks from the heart. Believing this truth in the word, and offering thanks in prayer is one way we drink orange juice to the glory of God.
The other way is to drink lovingly. For example, don’t insist on the biggest helping. This is taught in the context of 1 Corinthians 10:33, “I try to please all men in everything I do, not seeking my own advantage, but that of many, that they may be saved” (RSV). “Be imitators of me, just as I also am of Christ” (1 Corinthians 11:1). Everything we do-even drinking orange juice-can be done with the intention and hope that it will be to the advantage of many that they may be saved.
Let us praise God that we have escaped by his grace from the total ruin of all our deeds. And let us do everything, whether we eat or drink, to the glory of our great God!
So how can we glorify God even in the little things? Let’s learn together!
