Sometimes we have to make a hard choice for the greater good. We may have to forego a nice promotion at work because the greater good is that we spend more time with family. Sometimes we have to endure the ridicule of other people because the greater good is to stand up for someone’s reputation. Sometimes we have to choose a difficult medical procedure that will be painful because the greater good is our health.

God has a greater good in mind for you. It is that you would live with him forever in heaven. But that greater glory that waits for us now is unseen. It is hidden in the struggles and difficulties of life. But it is through those very struggles and difficulties that God leads us to glory.

God’s way is difficult. God’s way doesn’t always feel good. God’s way isn’t how everyone else is acting. For example: on the one hand, we’re faced with the challenge of controlling our sexual urges and on the other is a world that gives us all kinds of excuses for giving in to lust. Or we look at our marriages and we struggle with our spouse because we want it to go my way—not her way, not his way—as if we live in competition with each other. We are presented with a variety of entertainment choices some are vulgar, violent and disgraceful. At other times, we look at the struggles and difficulties of life and we resent them, reject them and curse God in our hearts for letting us suffer.

In those situations we can’t always say we were seeking God’s glory. Instead of God’s glory we are seeking our own. God has a word for that: idolatry. And God promises that no idolater has eternal life.

Today is a good day to repent of that and return to God our Savior. This is the savior you know as Jesus Christ and he was determined to serve God only. Jesus understood that his job was to bring God the glory that you and I can’t bring on our own. We are never perfectly focused on giving glory to God. We are wrapped up in our sinfulness. We can’t meet that perfect demand. But Christ did. He took God’s demand to be glorified in this world by the thoughts, words and actions of his people and did that very thing. And his perfect service is granted to all of us who believe in him. Our idolatry is forgiven, we are not condemned, but through Jesus’ blood we are saved.

And because God has saved us there is a greater glory that we look forward to. Right now, though, it's clouded by sin. So that means we have to look beyond the clouds of sin. Let the cross of Christ chase those clouds away so we can see the glory beyond this life of sin and weakness.

And when that happens, we gain a joyful trust. We know that to serve the Lord is the right thing to do. We know that even if the way of Jesus is littered with difficulty, rejection and sadness, that ultimately the joy and peace that is hidden now will soon be seen. So with that in mind, go and live beyond yourself. Put away your selfishness and pride. Serve God. And in that joyful trust, seek what is best.