A proper order of things

 We had our annual children's Christmas play last Sunday.  This year's story focused on the shepherds out in their field.  As I was reading through this text, I noticed something interesting in a very familiar part of the story.  The angels say in Luke 2:14, "Glory to God in the highest, and on earth peace among men with whom He is pleased." (NASB)

What I noticed is the order.  The angels are announcing to the shepherds that a Savior has been born to them, but notice the order when the angel choir sings:

    1. Glory to God - the angels begin by singing that God is honored and glorified in the work of God to bring the Savior.  So often we make ourselves the center of the Christmas story - we say things that sound an awful lot like Jesus came to earth to save us.  In a sense that is true, but that sense is secondary to His primary purpose - He came to glorify the Father.  He came to bring glory to the triune God.  It is interesting how often the Scriptures talk about this, but so often we forget.

    2. Peace among men - on earth there is to be something accomplished too - namely that men would be at peace with each other - this only happens through the work of God in Christ.  But this is not primary.  It is secondary to the glory of God.  This one cannot happen without the former.  

I wonder what would happen if we got our order correct too - that is that we placed the glory of God in our lives first and then what benefit we received.  We would be doing things far more biblically and we would be living our lives in the way that God intended us to live.  May God help us to live for His glory!