The Glory We Desire vs. the Glory He Means for Us

Partakers of Divine Glory

It’s a harmful factor to start out serious about our glory. It appears the second our mortal minds start to dwell on any form of glory that includes ourselves, we’re tripped up into idolatry, right into a lust for reward and human acknowledgment. We start admiring ourselves as we think about how admirable we are going to, eventually, be. However it’s much more harmful to not assume on it. It’s within the considering on it, the examination of it, that we purify ourselves within the spirit the apostle John meant us to do. Can we fathom a glory ready for us wherein, upon fixing our minds on it, we don’t flip into proud devils? I pray we are able to, for the Lord calls us to do it.

The Bible does greater than trace that we’ll, in reality, be partakers in God’s glory. Jesus prays that the glory God has given him can be given to all of us, in order that we could also be one, simply as he and the Father are one (John 17:22). Peter is so daring as to say it like this:

His divine energy has granted to us all issues that pertain to life and godliness, via the information of him who referred to as us to his personal glory and excellence, by which he has granted to us his valuable and really nice guarantees, in order that via them chances are you’ll change into partakers of the divine nature, having escaped from the corruption that’s on the planet due to sinful need. (2 Pet. 1:3–4)

You and me? Known as to his glory? Partaking of the divine nature? How can it’s? I gained’t fake for a second that I can clarify it! I can’t and shan’t strive. However I’ll state it as truth: you and I and all those that belong to him and are his kids are certainly referred to as to his glory, and we will change into partakers of his divine nature. He has assured our glory by the power of his will and his phrase (Rom. 8:29–30).

Right here we should depend on John, the beloved disciple, to information us into visions of our future glory: “Beloved, we’re God’s kids now, and what we will probably be has not but appeared; however we all know that when he seems we will be like him, as a result of we will see him as he’s. And everybody who thus hopes in him purifies himself as he’s pure” (1 John 3:2–3).

How can we prepared ourselves for the glory that awaits? We put each shred of our hope in Jesus and the promise that we’ll be like him. Hoping in God is how we purify ourselves for glory—that point when the dim glass will probably be eliminated, the veil ceaselessly lifted, the door lastly and absolutely opened, and the commendation, “Effectively achieved,” obtained right into a pure coronary heart that may bear to listen to it with out sinning.

Lewis says, “The promise of glory . . . turns into extremely related to our deep need. For glory means good report with God, acceptance by God, response, acknowledgment, and welcome into the guts of issues. The door on which we’ve got been knocking all our lives will open eventually.”¹

If we are able to start to think about ourselves having fun with his reward as a result of it’s from him, from his mouth, not primarily as a result of it’s centered on us, then we are going to start to prepared ourselves for heaven. That is the inheritance of kids. Eliminate all notions of complexity and the tortuous must nail all of it to the wall. Beloved, we’re God’s kids. The glory that awaits shouldn’t be primarily for individuals who can clarify all of it, having change into so grown up they appear to overlook the mud from which they had been made. It’s for individuals who will obtain it like a baby. Maturity within the Christian life is larger and better childlikeness.

The Glory of Consuming Like a Youngster

Kids could be notoriously troublesome to please with regards to meals however not with regards to bread. I’m certain there’s an exception on the market, however I’ve by no means met a baby who turns up his nostril at a loaf of bread recent from the oven. They collect spherical, anticipating the primary slice, not due to selfishness however due to delight. Mouths full, they will’t assist however speak about how good it’s and instantly start asking for extra. Whereas their manners is probably not as refined as some adults want, nobody may query their real appreciation, their pleasure, and their happiness within the bread. Nobody has to ask, “Do you prefer it?” or urge them to say a dutiful “Thanks.”

As somebody who makes bread so much, I can let you know the response of blissful kids consuming bread is the easiest response. It’s the response that brings me, the bread maker, probably the most pleasure and honor. So it’s with the Lord. The extra we are able to overlook ourselves and our overbearing manners and easily obtain the bread of life with the enjoyment and delight of a kid, the extra honor God will get. After we are happy by his bread, that’s, his Son, he’s honored and glorified.²

My purpose in writing is so that you can change your weight loss plan. I would like you to be awash in religious gluten.³ However that’s solely a part of my purpose. The fuller objective shouldn’t be that you’d merely eat the bread of life however that you’d eat it as a baby, for it’s only kids who actually can eat it. For as excessive and lofty as glory is, God makes up for that loftiness by bestowing it solely on humble kids:

At the moment the disciples got here to Jesus, saying, “Who’s the best within the kingdom of heaven?” And calling to him a baby, he put him within the midst of them and stated, “Really, I say to you, except you flip and change into like kids, you’ll by no means enter the dominion of heaven. Whoever humbles himself like this little one is the best within the kingdom of heaven.” (Matt. 18:1–4)

Received’t you flip and change into his little one? Received’t you style and see that he’s good?

The disciples had been looking for glory, asking “Who’s the best?” Jesus’s response will need to have shocked them because it does us. The best are those that have refused a selected sort of ageing—the type that results in cynicism, scoffing, hypocrisy, and pretense—and as an alternative have grown new, childlike, and full of religion. When Eve ate the forbidden fruit, she “grew up” within the worst approach. One may say that was the second she turned that lethal form of grownup that can’t enter the dominion as a result of she has misplaced her capability to get pleasure from all the nice issues that will probably be there—most particularly God himself.⁴ After we flip and change into kids, each little bit of life, from the proper foam of a latte to the scrumptious heat of garments popping out of the dryer, from the piercing fact of Galatians to the unparalleled knowledge of the parables—all of it turns into vibrant and alive with the goodness of our Father. Every part is obtained as from him. We change into partakers of surprise, which will get us about as shut as we are able to get to partaking of the divine nature.

Received’t you flip and change into his little one? Received’t you style and see that he’s good? Received’t you fire up your starvation for him, realizing that it’s his good pleasure to fulfill you with himself? Received’t you be a part of me in ready and hoping for the day when all starvation ceases and we will probably be glorified in his presence?

They shall starvation no extra, neither thirst anymore;
     the solar shall not strike them,
nor any scorching warmth.
For the Lamb within the midst of the throne will probably be their shepherd,
     and he’ll information them to springs of residing water,
and God will wipe away each tear from their eyes. (Rev. 7:16–17)

This text is tailored from Bread of Life: Savoring the All-Satisfying Goodness of Jesus through the Art of Bread Making by Abigail Dodds.

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