When the Lord teaches us to pray, the most important point of that prayer is that the Father should be glorified (Mt.6:9). That is one mark of a truly spiritual man that he seeks the Father's honour and not his own. There are many ways we can honour Him – by worshipping and praising Him, denying ourselves in order to do His will at all times, sharing with others about who He is and what He has done for us, fulfilling the ministry that He has entrusted to us, etc. Honouring Him through our lips and ministry is one thing, but a greater challenge is to honour Him through the way we live – in our thoughts, attitudes, motives, words and deeds. If we don't take up this challenge, anything else we may do may impress people but not God (He.4:12,13). Ultimately, our life is more important to God than the songs we sing on Sundays, and our daily life doing His will is what counts as true worship (Ro.12:1,2).
We as people are the ones who actually do the will of God in our lives, but the power and strength must come from God. We are not only incapable of knowing or doing the will of God by ourselves because of our fallen nature, but also whatever we do must be aimed at honouring Him and not to become great in ourselves (Ro.11:36). We can look at ourselves as fragile, crude earthen vessels into which God has chosen to place the treasure of His grace (2Co.4:7). The sweet aroma that comes out is actually His and not ours even though it is coming from us (2Co.2:14). It is as we yield to Him, give up our own plans in order to follow His, and do His will and not ours that this aroma can be felt more and more.
Another analogy is that of the moon reflecting the light of the sun. The moon has no light of its own. But we see light from the moon when it is in a position to reflect the sun's light. The glory that we can reflect in our life is from God. Without Him we cannot do anything good (Jn.15:4). Just as the moon shows different levels of light from the sun our own life may not always God's glory to the full at all times because what we do is imperfect. Sometimes, if we fall, we may show no glory at all but only darkness like the new moon. But God's desire is that we should be those who conquer the challenges in an overwhelming way (not getting defeated most of the time or merely scraping through) (Ro.8:37). When we are able to live that life we will know that definitely it is the grace of God working in us (1Co.15:10).
But what a tragedy if we have had the privilege to hear and respond to the Gospel but still didn't understand its significance or didn't value it sufficiently but spent our life seeking great things for ourselves! What great disillusionment and shock will await those who used the Gospel as a means to amass wealth or fame for themselves!
But let those who love the Lord take care to live for Him, seeking His glory and doing His will, and giving our lives as a sacrifice to Him even while we are still alive (Ro.12:1).