For Him
Is God selfish for seeking His own glory?
I read it somewhere. Heard it in a sermon. And it sat with me.
For Him.
Created for Him. Alive for Him. Working for Him. Studying for Him.
Scripture says we are not our own. We were bought with a price. We are not here for us but for Him. For His glory. For His purposes. For Him.
God is the Subject, we are the objects. He is the Potter, we are the clay. He is the Author, we are the story He is writing.
God is all in all.
It is by grace that we are saved. It is by His amazing grace and His plan for each of us that we get to experience His goodness. Where everything works together for good, for those who love Him and are called according to His purpose.
We are His creation. His people. His children. His inheritance in Christ.
For Him.
Paul writes: “For by Him all things were created, in heaven and on earth, visible and invisible… all things were created through Him and for Him” (Colossians 1:16).
And again: “For from Him and through Him and to Him are all things. To Him be glory forever” (Romans 11:36).
From Him. Through Him. To Him. The origin, the means, the end — all pointing back to the same Source.
Isaiah says it plainly: “Everyone who is called by My name, whom I created for My glory, whom I formed and made” (Isaiah 43:7).
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Now I know this may sound harsh to some. It may seem that God is selfish. That He did it all for Himself. For His own good pleasure.
But look closer.
When a parent delights in their child’s flourishing — is that selfishness? The parent receives joy, yes. But that joy does not diminish what is given. The delight is the love expressing itself.
The sun does not lose anything by shining. It pours out light and heat because that is its nature. And everything that lives, lives by that outpouring. The sun glorifies itself by giving.
A tree heavy with fruit is not selfish for bearing much. Its fruitfulness is its glory. And that glory feeds many.
This is the pattern woven through creation: glory and generosity are not opposites. They are the same motion.
And then there is the Cross.
If God were merely concerned with His own exaltation, He would not have emptied Himself. He would not have taken on flesh. He would not have bled.
But He did.
“Though He was in the form of God, He did not count equality with God a thing to be grasped, but emptied Himself, by taking the form of a servant… He humbled Himself by becoming obedient to the point of death, even death on a cross” (Philippians 2:6–8).
This is how God glorifies Himself: through self-giving. The Cross is the ultimate display — glory through sacrifice. Power through weakness.
God’s good pleasure is not at our expense. His delight is in our flourishing. “For God so loved the world that He gave…” (John 3:16). The giving is the glory.
So yes — we are created by Him. Sustained through Him. We exist for Him.
And in that “for Him” we find not bondage but freedom. Not loss but gain.
The clay does not lose its nature by being shaped. It gains its form. The seed does not diminish by dying. It multiplies. We become most fully human when we live for Him.
Created by Him. Through Him. For Him.
To Him be glory forever. Amen.
