Why We Resist Giving God Everything
Imagine being told that everything you’ve worked for—the effort, the long hours, the sacrifices, even the good you’ve done—will be credited to someone else.
You spend years building your career in a company. You show up, you stay late, you carry responsibility, you give it your best. But when recognition comes, it goes to another person. They receive the promotion. They receive the raise. Your work is remembered—but not attributed to you.
How would that sit with you?
“So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, ‘We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.’”
— Luke 17:10
Do All for the Glory of God
This is one of the reasons many struggle to embrace God. The branch resists the truth that it is only a branch—connected to something greater—and that the vine alone is worthy of glory.
“I am the vine; you are the branches. If you remain in me and I in you, you will bear much fruit; apart from me you can do nothing.”
— John 15:5
It is the vine that sustains the branch, the vine that enables it to bear fruit, the vine that holds it steady through the storms of life, and the vine that provides everything it needs to live and grow.
In life, we may be willing to share credit in certain moments, to let others have their place in the spotlight. But to give all the glory to someone else—for everything, as though we were nothing, as though we contributed nothing—strikes something deep within us.
Yet this is precisely what God calls us to. To deny ourselves and give Him all the glory, because apart from Him we are nothing, and apart from Him, nothing we do carries lasting weight.
“For from him and through him and for him are all things. To him be the glory forever! Amen.”
— Romans 11:36
But does that truth sit comfortably with us?
Let’s go deeper. In God’s economy, denying ourselves is not only about giving Him all the glory—not merely giving Him credit—it is about giving Him everything, because to give Him everything is to give Him all the glory.
Our desires, our plans, our opinions, our rights, our freedom, even what we call “our truth” and our love—all of it is surrendered to Him.
To give God the glory is to give Him all.
“I have been crucified with Christ and I no longer live, but Christ lives in me.”
— Galatians 2:20
When we give God all the glory, we are declaring to the world: He is God, and we are not. We are saying He alone is worthy to live for, and we are not. We are confessing that only He deserves the glory, not us. He is true, and we are not.
We are also testifying that true life is found in Him alone—not in ourselves, and not in this world. Only He can sustain us, keep us, and carry us into eternity.
This is why everything we do—and everything we choose not to do—must be guided and directed toward His glory. And with that comes a hard truth: even things that do not appear sinful may still need to be laid down.
“By faith Noah, when warned about things not yet seen, in holy fear built an ark to save his family.”
— Hebrews 11:7
Noah could have refused God’s command and instead devoted himself to building a home and securing his family’s future. Yet he obeyed and built the ark.
“And now go, lie on your left side and put the sin of the people of Israel upon yourself… then lie on your right side.”
— Ezekiel 4:4–6 (summary)
God commanded Ezekiel to lie on his side for years, and then to turn and lie on his other side. He could have rejected it, reasoning that he had a life of his own to live.
“Follow me, and let the dead bury their own dead.”
— Matthew 8:22
Jesus called His disciples to follow Him, leaving behind their former lives. He even said, “Let the dead bury their own dead.”
In each case, it was not about personal preference or perceived wisdom—it was about God’s direction. They were called to deny what they thought life should look like and to trust that God’s way was better, even when it defied their expectations.
We all struggle with denying ourselves. We resist it in different ways.
To consider that God might say: don’t marry, don’t take that job you desire, don’t watch that movie, don’t go to that party, don’t eat that food, don’t go left but go right, don’t pursue that relationship—these are not easy things for us to accept.
Saying “yes” to God in these moments can be one of the hardest things we face.
In many ways, we have become an enabling people, mistaking permission for love. Like a parent who allows an addicted child to continue using drugs at home out of fear they will die on the streets—while overlooking the fact that they are still dying, just more slowly—we often confuse tolerance with true care.
Because of this, our understanding of love and what is truly right becomes distorted. We are easily led by what feels good in the moment, rather than what is actually good for us. These flesh-driven desires can blind us to truth.
“Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind.”
— Romans 12:2
This is why many struggle to understand why God would say no to things that seem good to them. Why can’t relationships be defined however we choose? Why can’t one person have multiple spouses? Why can’t someone drink until they are drunk?
At the heart of it is a deeper question: do we trust our own definitions of love and goodness, or do we trust God’s?
Are we going to trust ourselves or trust God—even when we are uncertain about what He is saying?
Take, for example, the debates around same-sex relationships. When there is genuine ambiguity in our understanding, why would we step into that uncertainty and build our decisions on it? Often, what pulls us forward is not clarity from God, but the strength of our own desires.
This is where God calls us to something deeper: to deny ourselves even in moments of uncertainty. Not to be ruled by what we want, but to be shaped by who He is.
“Trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding.”
— Proverbs 3:5
To glorify God is not to see how close we can get to the edge without falling. It is to draw as near to Him as possible—trusting that His ways are life, even when our understanding is incomplete. It is the realization that I am being offered life—something far greater—and that to follow my own desires would be to turn away from it.
God has promised that if we deny ourselves, we will find true life—life eternal—in Him. In Him we discover rest, truth, love, and everything we need for life and godliness.
“Whoever wants to save their life will lose it, but whoever loses their life for me will find it.”
— Matthew 16:25
And with the surrender of self comes a treasure that cannot fade: reward in heaven and participation in what God is building—a family that will rejoice together for all eternity.
Our denial of self brings life both to the world and to our own souls. It leads us to Christ, where we bear His fruit, reflect His light, and bring glory to God.
“Unless a grain of wheat falls to the ground and dies, it remains only a single seed.”
— John 12:24
Perhaps our denial is not unbelief in God, but our unwillingness to surrender the glory we want for ourselves.
The choice stands before us: to cling to a self-centered glory that ultimately leads to death, or to surrender to God’s glory, which leads to life.
