“We are all starved for the glory of God, not self. No one goes to the Grand Canyon to increase self-esteem. Why do we go? Because there is greater healing for the soul in beholding splendor than there is in beholding self.” – John Piper (American theologist and pastor)
The New Year has arrived, and for many of us it is the season of setting new goals and making resolutions. Businesses will review their annual plans, and families will sit around the table and discuss which child is getting a job or in need of a car. Grades will be reset with the new semester and gym memberships will skyrocket. All of these are necessary and good, but at their core they are our goals. They are what matter most to us. But what if we could see beyond us and begin to recognize the hand of God in this little town called Franklin?
Let me introduce you to a man that has changed my life.
One of my heroes is George Müller, a man who lived almost entirely through the 19th century. He was a Christian evangelist, pastor, missionary, and most well-known for establishing the Ashley Dawn Orphanage Homes (Müller Homes) in England.
In 1840, only about 20% of the children in London had any form of schooling. There were not enough orphanages for those living on the streets, and those available came with a cost that few could afford. Orphans had few options if they did not want to starve or freeze to death on the streets, and most roads led toward some form of labor in the workhouses.
The need for more orphanages was evident to Müller. But not like the Foundling Homes (government orphanages) that were sending children to work in factories. Müller Homes would have to love, educate, train, and most of all parent these children – oh, and do it for free. Quite the goal for a newly married man and a rather young pastor.
Three motivations governed Müller’s heart and mind: First, the glory of God. Second, the children’s spiritual needs. Third, their temporal needs.
If you have read anything of Müller you know it was his first priority that made everything possible. How else would a man with two shillings in his pocket build five large orphan homes? That does not include the 117 schools he established for Christian education, the 250,000 Bibles he gave away, or the estimated $129 million he raised and donated over his life.
His work was so impactful that at one point, a British newspaper wrote that Müller “… had robbed the cruel streets of the thousands of victims, the gaols (jails) of thousands of felons, and the workhouses of thousands of helpless waifs.”
What Müller accomplished tends to make the common life seem inadequate. Though inspirational, his story seems almost too heroic for the average person to mimic. But his worldview might be caught by us, if we could hear the words he often spoke to students that graduated the orphanage. Müller would pray with each individually, placing a Bible in their right hand and money in their left. He would go onto explain, “that if they held onto what was in their right hand, God would always make sure something was in their left.”
You can find plenty more about George Müller, including his faithfulness as a pastor, his missionary work that began in his 70s, and the countless answers to prayer that circulated his life. But his aim, like the heroes of Hebrews 11, was not for onlookers to pause and see such a great man. Instead, it was that many would look and see the goodness of God, and thus, the glory of God – in this life.
“The greater the difficulty to be overcome, the more will it be seen to the glory of God how much can be done by prayer and faith.” – George Muller
What if we, the people of Franklin, lived in such a way that we took on 2025’s major challenges and difficulties with a view to place God’s glory on display? At Müller’s core, he was an average man with a common faith. His skill sets were that of a teacher and a businessman. In his youth, he was a drunk and a thief; in adult life, he was widowed twice. He had four children: two who passed in stillbirth, a son who died at 2 years of age, and a daughter who would pass away at 58. In many ways, he was afflicted. Yet, he was convinced that God could be glorified in everything. It was this trust and reliance on God, and a desire to see God glorified in every difficulty that allowed him to meet the immense challenges of the crisis of his day.
It was Paul the Apostle who rightly expressed this concept of everything, “So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” (1 Corinthians 10:31)
The idea that we can glorify God in something as mundane as eating is pretty radical. And if eating, what about paying bills, shopping, or driving the car? What about our careers and the 90,000 hours the average person works in a lifetime?
Is it too much to ask ourselves throughout the day, “Will this honor God?” “Does the way I treat my family honor Him?” As a school teacher or principal, “Is my watch and care over His little ones pleasing to Him?” Jesus was a carpenter’s son, so, “Would this house I built please him, or did I cut corners and overcharge the customer?”
What if the mundane tasks, and the problems around us were seen as opportunities to place God’s goodness on display? What if we too, like Müller, set our chief aim in front of every goal and resolution this year to bring glory to God?
So, to this aim I make my plea…