“Our momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory.”
2 Corinthians 4:17
Father John Sergieff was a priest who ministered in Kronstadt, Russian in the mid-19th Century. This was a time when Imperial Russia, as one writer described, “was rotting under their own decadence.” Crime ran amok. Prostitutes filled every corner, and thieves the alleys. There was no safe place. And most of the clergy lived a life of privilege and status, using what waning power they had to insulate themselves from the corruption around them. Not so with John Sergieff. Called at one time, the “Pastor of all Russia,” Sergieff’s daily practice was to don his robe and walk into the meanest part of the city. He would walk among addicts, beggars, thieves, and among the orphans and widows. He would find the most broken man or woman in their complete depravity and, as his biography describes, he would cup their chin in his large hands, and lift their face so that they were looking straight into his eyes. And, he would say, “this” (meaning, this way of life, this means of survival, this condition I have found you in), “this is beneath your dignity…you were created to house the glory of the living God.” It was said of John Sergieff that wherever he went to preach about the death and resurrection of Christ, revival followed. (Mark Buchanan, Your Church Is Too Safe. Zondervan, 2012, pp. 88-89)
For just a moment, take into deep consideration this beloved pastor’s words: you were created to house the glory of God.
2 Corinthians 4:6 reminds us that “God has shone His light into our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ.” God’s design for your life is not that you live subjugated to this world, nor to the problems of brokenness that plague this planet. He has created you and designed your life for His glory. From the very beginning, mankind was created in God’s image that we might shine forth the glory of God. God claimed Israel as His people, not just for the sake of the choice, but for His glory. And the same applies to you and me. God has called us to Himself for His glory: everyone who is called by my name and whom I have created for my glory (Isaiah 43:7).
Created for His glory does not in any stretch of one’s imagination indicate that we aid in God becoming more glorious. That thought represents a great error in understanding God’s nature. God is self-existing, meaning that He exists in and of Himself. Although staggering to our feeble and finite minds, God has always existed. He has no beginning nor end. He is timeless. He is filled with perfect glory, and that glory is complete with no need to have any other element added to increase the glory. God’s glory has been defined as the perfect harmony of all His attributes into one infinitely marvelous, majestic, perfect being. To say He is glorious, is to speak of the sum of His whole being, which is indeed an overwhelming prospect. To glorify God, then, indicates that He created us to display His glory, so that His glory might be known and praised. The tribute of God’s salvation for Israel, “the Lord has redeemed Jacob and will be glorified in Israel” (Isaiah 44:23), can easily be stated as a tribute to God’s salvation in Christ for you: “the Lord has redeemed _________(your name), and is glorified in your life.”
So, how can we align with the purpose of God’s glory? In Matthew 5:16, Jesus directed his followers to, “let your light so shine before men that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in Heaven.” In I Corinthians 10:31, we are instructed to do all things for the glory of God. In Revelation 15:8, Heaven is described as the sanctuary filled with the glory of God. So, the goal from the beginning that continues for eternity is indeed “the Glory of God.” In Hebrew language, glory can indicate honor and splendor that is visible. In the Greek language of the New Testament, “glory” indicates splendor, brightness, substance, and intrinsic worth. God desires to make His glory known, visible, in Christ Jesus and among and through His people. This includes you. As the Bible reminds us, God has shone His light in us to give us the light (the revelation and understanding) of the glory of God in Jesus (2 Corinthians 4:6). Through our faith in Christ, we have God’s glory revealed through our lives. What an amazing reality. Therefore, how wrong it becomes for we as children of God to allow anything of this world to define us, when God has said we are made for His glory.
Today, see God’s hand reaching out to lift your face, and hear Him say,
“you were made for so much more than this, for you are made for My glory.”
Today, more than ever, God is preparing for the Glory of His Son, Jesus Christ, to be seen through His people. Prepare your hearts.
Blessings.
READ
Read 2 Corinthians 4:1-18 and be encouraged that our momentary troubles achieve an enteral glory.
