Whether covered in dust in the attic or proudly displayed in a glass case in our foyer, whether neglected or polished daily, trophies adorn most of our homes. Maybe it’s the trophy you won playing soccer as a 4-year-old or the huge golden hotdog you scored for chowing down on the most wieners during an eating contest. Or perhaps your high school or college diploma is trophy enough for you. Whatever the case, we all have trinkets signifying glory days of yore.
So if we can win trophies, symbols of our strength and grandeur, why can’t God? Uh, hello, He’s God Almighty. He’s way too good for silly little plastic and fake gold trinkets, you’re thinking.
That’s why He has us. We are His trophies—if we allow ourselves to be. Ephesians 2:10 says, “For we are God’s workmanship, created in Christ Jesus to do good works, which God prepared in advance for us to do.” Through our zeal and love for the Lord, we conduct lives that produce good works—works that will pour accolades onto God.
When an athlete wins a race, he stands atop a platform and holds up a trophy in triumph. In the same way, when we accomplish good things for the Lord, He will elevate us. But as with an athlete, it is not the trophy that everyone is thinking about when the award is given; the trophy is merely an accessory to highlight the athlete’s greatness. In the same way, God holds us up that He may receive greater glory.
Now, a God so triumphant does not necessarily need added praise or anything else to make Him look good. But He takes pleasure in it. And He deserves it. He demands that we glorify Him.
Now you’re thinking, God sort of seems a little pompous. Isn’t it a little arrogant to demand our praises? But God’s claims of holiness are not generated from pride or shallowness, but from holiness and truth.
In the book Facedown, Matt Redman addresses this issue. “God must prize Himself above all else, for to prize anything or anyone else more highly than Himself would compromise His worth—and therefore imply that He is not God after all.”
Prizing Him above all else means offering our lives as trophies for the Almighty God to display His triumph on this earth. If we hold onto our lives, they will become as worthless trinkets in the end. However, if we place them in the hands of the One who will someday defeat all others, they will be used to adorn the Glorious Champion for all eternity.
