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Giving glory to God through worship and through upright living. God’s people are exhorted to praise him and to bring honor to his name.

Magnify God — By worshiping him. Therefore, my first task is to see and to remember the greatness and goodness of God. So I pray to God, “Open the eyes of my heart!” (Ephesians 1:18), and I preach to my soul, “Soul, forget not all his benefits!” (Psalm 103:2).

There are two kinds of magnifying: microscope magnifying and telescope magnifying. The one makes a small thing look bigger than it is. The other makes a big thing begin to look as big as it really is.

  • When David says, “I will magnify God with thanksgiving,” he does not mean, “I will make a small God look bigger than he is.” He means, “I will make a big God begin to look as big as he really is.”
  • I am not called to be a microscope. I am called to be telescope. Disciples are not called to be con-men who magnify their product out of all proportion to reality, when they know the competitor’s product is far superior. There is nothing and nobody superior to God. And so the calling of those who love God is to make his greatness begin to look as great as it really is.

That’s why I exist, why I am saved. As Peter says in 1 Peter 2:9, “You are a chosen race, a royal priesthood, a holy nation, a people for his own possession, that you may proclaim the excellencies of him who called you out of darkness into his marvelous light.”

  • The whole duty of the disciple can be summed up in this: feel, think, and act in a way that will make God look as great as he really is. Be a telescope for the world of the infinite starry wealth of the glory of God.

This is what it means for a disciple to magnify God. But you can’t magnify what I haven’t seen or what I quickly forget.

  • 1 Chronicles 16:28–29 — 28 Ascribe to the Master, O families of the peoples, Ascribe to the Master glory and strength. 29 Ascribe to the Master the glory due His name; Bring an offering, and come before Him; Worship the Master in holy array.
  • Psalm 29:1–2 — 1 Ascribe to the Master, O sons of the mighty, Ascribe to the Master glory and strength. 2 Ascribe to the Master the glory due to His name; Worship the Master in holy array.
  • Psalm 100:1–2 —Shout joyfully to the Master, all the earth. Serve the Master with gladness; Come before Him with joyful singing.