I glorified you on earth, having accomplished the work that you gave me to do.
John 17:4 (ESV)
Jesus’ prayer in John 17:1 was that the Father would glorify him as he had glorified the Father. And in John 17:5, that the Father would glorify him with the glory he shared with the Father from eternity. The word translated as glorify carries the idea of honoring, magnifying, extolling, or praising. Jesus was looking forward to his return to the Father. And to the place of honor and glory that was his before the incarnation.
In John 17:4, Jesus expressed that he had glorified the Father by accomplishing the work that the Father had given him to do. When Jesus said this, he had not yet gone to the cross, but that was imminent. Yet in everything he said and did throughout his life, he had been doing the work the Father had given him. And the Father was honored in it.
I am not Jesus. Yet what he said in this verse hits home. Is the Father glorified in my life? Am I accomplishing the work that the Father has given me to do? That should be the goal of my life as a follower of Jesus. To bring honor to God in all that I am, say, and do.
How good it will be, when I come to the end of my life, to be able to say with the Apostle Paul, “I have fought the good fight, I have finished the race, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:7). And to be able to say with Jesus, “I have glorified God on earth by accomplishing the work he gave me to do.”
