Where’s the glory?
Deep down, every man wants to feel powerful.
When we walk into a room, we want to carry a weighty presence.
There are some people that when you meet them, when they walk in the room, there is just an “x-factor” about them that makes them “weighty”.
They carry a presence, a light, a power, that transcends their physical stature, wealth, or status. You can’t look away, but you don’t really know why.
There’s just something special about them.
When they speak, people listen, although they may not say much.
People subconsciously want to be near them.
Insecure, egotistical people are afraid of them.
The light that shines from them, the weighty presence they carry, that’s glory.
When Moses came down the mountain after talking with God (Ex. 34), the children of Israel were frightened by the way his face shone. Moses covered his face to hide the glory so that the Israelites could bear to be in his presence.
In 2 Corinthians 3 Paul makes the claim that when we are in Christ, the glory in our lives will far surpass the glory that Moses bore when he came down the mountain with the Ten Commandments.
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There are two words often translated as “glory” in the English bible.
The Greek (doxa) means “honor, splendor, brightness, divine radiance” The Hebrew (kavod) means "weightiness" or "substantial honor."
Paul makes the case that Moses’ face shone with a glory that was temporary, passing away. He says that the Old Covenant (Law) was already fading, and yet Mose’s communion with God produced such a radiance in him that he had to cover his face.
He goes on to say how much more our faces will radiate the glory of God under the covenant of Love.
The glory that we can live in so far surpasses the glory under the old way that it completely eclipses the old kind of glory, and it doesn’t fade away.
“what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory.”
“…and the glory of children is their fathers.” - Proverbs 17:6
So I have to ask: are you seeing that kind of glory in your life?
Do you radiate with this kind of light?
When you walk into a room, do you carry “weightiness” and “honor”?
Does your marriage, your posture, your nervous system, your eyes, your family, your smile… do they glitter with splendor?
If they do not, is it the case that perhaps you are not experiencing union with God?
What else are we left to believe?
It is clear in Jesus’ prayer in John 17 that his central mission was for us to experience direct union with God and that we would reflect His glory.
“that they may all be one, just as you, Father, are in me, and I in you, that they also may be in us, so that the world may believe that you have sent me. The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one, I in them and you in me, that they may become perfectly one, so that the world may know that you sent me and loved them even as you loved me.”
You, in Jesus, in God.
Made one with the One.
Jesus lived his life as a revelation of this truth. That you would experience the reality of your oneness with God.
Not through a moralistic framework of law, but through surrender and discipleship to love.
He wanted you to know that you are already loved.
Already forgiven.
Created for union with God in paradise.
The longing you feel in your soul indicates that there is a part of you that knows you were made for glory.
Paul makes it clear in 2 Corinthians 3 that this glory - this radiance - this union with God is your destiny in this life and the next.
The kingdom of God is at hand.
The time is now.
If your life is not reflecting the radiance, weightiness and splendor of God, then you must admit that the story you are living out - your beliefs about God - are not sufficiently true.
The truth revealed in scripture is that you were made for glory and that Christ broke the curse, inviting you to participate directly in a life with God.
When you walk in direct communion with God, your life will radiate glory.
When you walk into a room, people will experience greater radiance than Moses had when he came down the mountain.
The purpose of this glory is that others would be so struck by it that they would experience God in their own life.
Your life in Christ, your union with God, produces glory that reveals the true nature of reality, which is that God is Love.
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Do you know someone who radiates this kind of glory?
A kind of radiance that makes you see things in a new light?
When you are united to God in Christ and become an apprentice to Love, your life will glitter with the splendor of God.
Look around you.
Where do you see the glory?
