To bow the knee...

To bow the knee or not to bow the knee, that is THE question.  At a men's group book study some time ago, the topic of glorifying God came up.  Specifically, we wrestled with the question of whether human beings regardless of belief, creed, age, sex, ethnicity, bring glory to God by the fact that they are image bearers of the Creator.  More pointedly, can a person who does not believe in God bring glory to God by acting in manners that would seem to be of God (acts of service, justice, etc...)?

Trite as it may seem, let's look at the game of football and the touchdown celebration.  Two players of similar talent level can make a magnificent catch in an end zone, while all the fans look on in admiration and cheer wildly, and what comes next I believe puts this argument to rest.  Two men of similar stature physically and athletically, by nature, point to a Creator just by virtue that the ability of these men to physically train themselves to perform a feat that many cannot.  Their ability speaks of the excellence of a Creator who gave them their very abilities.  Glory is displayed.  Even more importantly than their natural ability speaking though, man was given a voice.  When those two men perform their feat, they now have the opportunity to speak about this feat albeit in the form of a touchdown celebration.  What we find is that one man may very well beat his own chest proclaiming his own excellency in making such a catch.  The other man simply bows the knee and points to the sky returning all the praise to the One who gave him the ability to perform such a feat.


So we see that both by nature and by voice the opportunity to glorify God is seen in creation.  "For since the creation of the world God’s invisible qualities—his eternal power and divine nature—have been clearly seen, being understood from what has been made..."(Romans 1:20)  First, glory is displayed and given to God naturally in the creation.  However, "They exchanged the truth about God for a lie, and worshiped and served created things rather than the Creator—who is forever praised..." (Romans 1:25)  Second, glory is given to God through worship.  As John Piper says, "Worship is a way of gladly reflecting back to God the radiance of His worth."


That reflecting is an act that must be DONE by creation.  It is this reflecting or deflecting that condemns man.  When we choose to exchange giving the glory to God for giving it to man, we commit the ultimate transgression.  In bowing the knee to God, we reflect the truth that God is Maker and we are not.