What is the Glory of God?

Whether, then, you eat or drink or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God (1 Cor 10:31).

That's quite a command. "Whatever you do." Every action, every choice, every purpose, every direction -- in everything you do you ought to be doing it to the glory of God. It begs the question. What is the glory of God?

Well, on the surface, it's an easy answer. God's glory is His nature. It is, first and foremost, the beauty of His nature. It is the sum of who He is. Paul says He "dwells in unapproachable light" (1 Tim 6:16). John describes the visitation on the Isle of Patmos (Rev 1:12-16) including the description, "His face was like the sun shining in its strength" (Rev 1:16). So magnificent was his vision of the glorified Christ that he says, "When I saw Him, I fell at His feet like a dead man" (Rev 1:17). These, of course, are mere human versions of the magnificence of His utter glory, the combination of His attributes. God's glory is the display of His perfections, the demonstration of His holiness, the presentation of His ultimate worth.

Jesus told His disciples, "Let your light shine before men in such a way that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father who is in heaven" (Matt 5:16). Now, the first odd thing in that statement is that they would see your good works and glorify your Father. That would be because genuine good works are those works done by God for God, and these kinds of good works are in stark contrast to normal human sin nature. But the second thing that seems odd is that we could possibly glorify the Father. I mean, if His glory is the display of His perfections, how can we make that any better? Perfection requires "not possibly better". We can reflect His glory, but we can't add to it.

Sometimes the Bible likes to use the word "magnify" here.

O magnify the LORD with me, And let us exalt His name together (Psa 34:3).
I will praise the name of God with song And magnify Him with thanksgiving (Psa 69:30).
"I will magnify Myself, sanctify Myself, and make Myself known in the sight of many nations; and they will know that I am the LORD" (Eze 38:23).

So if God's glory is the display of His perfections and we are told to magnify the Lord, how does that work? How do we bring glory to God if He's already glorious by His own nature? Well, there are two forms of "magnify". In science it can illustrated by a microscope or a telescope. A microscope makes really small things big enough to see. A telescope takes really big things that are far away and makes them big enough to see. And the latter is the concept we're going for. God's glory is as an entire universe in comparison to the Earth. Now, let's see if we can bring it close enough for us to grasp, if only in part.

Our primary function in life is to glorify God. That means that we are to reflect in everything we do His perfections. Somewhere along the way we got the notion that our purpose in life is to serve ourselves, obtain our pleasures, satisfy our desires, fulfill our longings. The more noble of us might also deign to do the same for others around us. But that would be a mistaken notion. "Magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together." "Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God"