Tag: Glory

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The Glory Due God’s Name

When our discussion occasionally turns to God’s glory, my good friend Dennis1 confesses some degree of ambivalence: while Dennis loves God and whole-heartedly agrees He is worthy of our praise, he is less comfortable with God’s continual insistence that we glorify Him. Likely, some of us can relate to one degree or another, so Dennis’ candor posits the topic before us. Let’s dig in.

God is indeed passionate for His own glory, and perhaps no scripture emphasizes it as clearly or boldly as His words spoken through the prophet Isaiah — “For my name’s sake I defer my anger, for the sake of my praise I restrain it for you, that I may not cut you off. Behold, I have refined you, but not as silver; I have tried you in the furnace of affliction. For my own sake, for my own sake, I do it, for how should my name be profaned? My glory I will not give to another.”2 No equivocation here! God glorifies Himself and, as we learned in last week’s post, our purpose in life is to glorify Him.  

Now, if a peer were to demand we continually proclaim his greatness, we would rightly consider him to be vainglorious — an egomaniac whose opinion of himself exceeds his worthiness of it. But praise be to God, He is not our peer; God has no equal! Rhetorically He asks, “To whom will you liken me and make me equal, and compare me, that we may be alike?”3 No one! God — and only God — lives both in the highest of heavens and in the lowliest of hearts. To a world craving goodness, He is a fortress of good — “Oh, taste and see that the Lord is good! Blessed is the man who takes refuge in him!”4

Again, God has no equal. He is a category of One. So who is this “One” so worthy of glory?

He is Jehovah Shalom, “the Lord is peace.”5 Have you ever experienced the inner peace of His silent presence?
He is Jehovah Raah, “the Lord is my shepherd.”6 Has God kept you from straying from Him or come after you when you did?
He is Jehovah Nissi, “the Lord is my banner.”7 Have you ever experienced the confidence of God’s victorious presence amid spiritual battle?
He is Jehovah Tsidkenu, “the Lord our righteousness.”8 Jesus has become righteousness for us,9 so we may forever be in God’s presence. Who else could have done this for us?
He is El Shaddai, “Lord God Almighty.”10 There is nothing He cannot do, and this omnipotent One loves us.
He is El Olam, “the everlasting God.”11 Our life is now hidden with Christ in God.12 As Christ was raised never to die again, so we, too, live forever in Him.

Take time to consider who God is and how you yourself have experienced His greatness. You will find that the glory owed to God does not exceed His worthiness; it reflects it, it proclaims it. Both now and forever. Amen.

Father, Thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory forever and ever. Be glorified in Your people, Your church. In Christ we pray. Amen.

1 This name is changed here for privacy purposes.
2 Isaiah 48:9-11 ESV, emphases added
3 Isaiah 46:5 ESV
4 Psalm 34:8 ESV
5 Judges 6:24
6 Psalm 23:1
7 Exodus 17:15
8 Jeremiah 23:6
9 1 Corinthians 1:30
10 Genesis 17:1
11 Genesis 21:3
12 Colossians 3:3 NIV

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The Glory that Awaits Us

Mercury Morris was a running back with the 1972 Miami Dolphins, the only team in NFL history to go undefeated throughout an entire season. When asked what it was like to have been part of this unequaled feat, Morris thoughtfully reflected, “I asked Buzz Aldrin once, ‘What was it like to walk on the moon?’” Pausing briefly, Morris continued, “I still don’t know. All I know is what [Aldrin] told me.” Which is to say there are some things in life we cannot understand until we experience them. Such is the case with God’s glory.

God’s gift of grace is the overflow of His nature of grace. He is full of grace and truth,1 and in great love He lavishly pours out His merciful kindness to us undeserving people. In prodigious proportions, He showers us with His own righteousness, strength, and sufficiency, and in unmatched generosity, He saves us, redeems us, and transforms us into the image of Christ. Then consider this, also: though “all have sinned and fall short of the glory of God,”2 the “God of all grace [has] called [us] to his eternal glory in Christ.”3 Even now, we are “being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory,”4 and it shows, for God works through our spiritual gifts, which is “the manifestation of the Spirit,”5 and “the fruit of the Spirit”6 in our lives testifies to the divine nature of Christ in us. And in all things, God’s glory in us ultimately glorifies Him. Paul writes, “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. But we have this treasure in jars of clay to show that this all-surpassing power is from God and not from us.”7 This is truth; this is grace.

Yet a far greater glory awaits us. To the Colossians Paul wrote, “Your life is now hidden with Christ in God. When Christ, who is your life, appears, then you also will appear with him in glory.”8 To believers in Rome, he reflected, “I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us.”9 And to the Corinthians, Paul marveled, “What no eye has seen, what no ear has heard, and what no human mind has conceived—the things God has prepared for those who love him.”10 So, what will it ultimately look like to fully experience God’s glory? I still don’t know. All I know is what the Bible tells me. But it’s going to be good . . .

Father, Your promises are sure. Enlighten our hearts, that we may know the hope of Your calling, the riches of the glory of Your inheritance in us, and the greatness of Your power toward us who believe.11. In Christ we pray. Amen.

1 John 1:14
2 Romans 3:23
3 1 Peter 5:10
4 2 Corinthians 3:18
5 1 Corinthians 12:7
6 Galatians 5:22-23
7 2 Corinthians 4:6-7
8 Colossians 3:3-4
9 Romans 8:18
10 1 Corinthians 2:9
11 Ephesians 1:18-21

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Running with Purpose

I heard a new family story over the holidays. My niece, Meghan—I’ve written before of her excellence as a high school track athlete—was competing one day in the 400-meter dash. As she ran this grueling event, her mind actually wandered for a while, losing sight of her situation until at some point she snapped back to the reality of the moment. “And I realized, ‘I’m in a race!’” she recalled. Then regaining her focus, Meghan mustered a final “kick” and won. I find her story to be so unrelatable on so many levels—running fast and thinking about anything other than gasping for air, to name a couple. Yet in another sense, Meghan’s story serves as a reminder to all of us that our life here is more than going through the motions while we stride toward the finish line and what awaits us on the other side—we run this life with a very specific purpose.

And what might this purpose be? What is it that demands our all? We are here to bring glory to God. In His sermon on the mount, Jesus exhorted those gathered to hear him, “Let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”1 We do this by letting Jesus shine in us and through us in all things and at all times. Wrote Paul to Corinthian believers, “Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.”2 The glory of God—this is why we are here; this is “the reality of the moment” on which we fix our focus.

Then how does this celestial aspiration become reality in our terrestrial existence? We align our will with God’s will in trusting union with Him, so that we “do not run aimlessly.”3 And we rely on His strength, for “by his power he [brings] to fruition [our] every desire for goodness and [our] every deed prompted by faith . . . so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in [us], and [we] in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”4

We’re in a race! We run with purpose: To bring God glory. We win in Christ.

By this my Father is glorified, that you bear much fruit and so prove to be my disciples. John 15:8

Father, sometimes my mind wanders and my focus drifts away from You. Draw me back into the moment that I would live with purpose—to glorify You in all things by the power of Your Spirit. In Christ I pray. Amen.

1 Matthew 5:16
2 1 Corinthians 10:31 ESV
3 1 Corinthians 9:26 ESV
4 2 Thessalonians 1:11-12