Let us turn to 2 Thessalonians 2:13,14, “But we should always give thanks to God for you, brethren beloved by the Lord, because God has chosen you from the beginning for salvation through sanctification by the Spirit and faith in the truth. It was for this He called you through our gospel, that you may gain the glory of our Lord Jesus Christ.” This was the purpose with which God called us. God chose us for salvation through sanctification for the purpose that we may gain the glory of our Lord. Our Christian life should be filled with the glory of Jesus – his love and divine nature. In John 17:22 we read Jesus’ prayer, “the glory that you have given to me, I have given to them”. In John 1:14 we read, “And the Word became flesh, and dwelt among us, and we saw His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and truth.” Through Jesus the world saw the glory of the Father. It is this glory that God wants us to gain.
Let us ask ourselves, “Are we seeking God’s glory or our won glory?” John 7:18 we read, “He who speaks from himself seeks his own glory; but He who is seeking the glory of the One who sent Him, He is true, and there is no unrighteousness in Him.” If we don’t seek the glory of God it is unrighteousness. In Genesis 1 we read how God created man in His own image but by sinning, man lost the glory of God. In Romans 3:23 we read how all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God. Through Adam’s sin, we all have lost the glory of God in our lives. But God wants us to regain this glory. When we truly see the glory of God – his beauty, his divine nature, his love and compassion; then our eyes will be open to our true condition. We will have brokenness in our heart seeing how far we are from the glory of God. Let God open our eyes of understanding so that we can see his glory and also to realize our true condition.
In 2 Corinthians 4:4 we read, “in whose case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelieving so that they might not see the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.” The ruler of this world is at constant work to blind our eyes to the glory of Christ. We need to resist the devil and desire to know the glory of God and to gain it. Let us pray, “Lord, show me your glory. I want to be like you”. We read how when Isaiah was in the presence of God he saw God’s glory and cried out because he saw his own ruined state. This will be our experience too when we truly see God’s glory. Let us have this desire and longing in our heart. In Exodus 33: 18 we read, Then Moses said, “I pray You, show me Your glory!” When Jesus prayed in John 17, He also prayed, “Show them my glory that you have given me”. This is the Jesus’ desire for us.
In the old covenant, people like Moses had a glory on their face. But this glory faded in time. But in the new covenant god has promised us a never fading glory. In 2 Corinthians 3, verse 7 we read, “But if the ministry of death, in letters engraved on stones, came with glory, so that the sons of Israel could not look intently at the face of Moses because of the glory of his face, fading as it was,” in verse 13 we read, “and are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the sons of Israel would not look intently at the end of what was fading away.” In verse 16 we read, “but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” And finally in verse 18 we read, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.” God has promised us a life of transformed from glory to glory. In the message version we read, “Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.” This is the progress of the Christian life that God desires for us. In Proverbs 4:18 we read that the path of the righteousness is like the light of dawn that grows brighter and brighter. This is the life that God has planned for us.
In Ezekiel we read a lot about the glory of God. In chapter 10 we read how God’s glory filled the temple (v4). Later when Israel sinned against God, this glory slowly decreased and finally departed from the temple. Our life shouldn’t come short of God’s life. We are the temple of God and God’s glory should be filled in us. Because of sin, we shouldn’t allow God’s glory to depart from it.
Let us have this desire – I want to be like you, I want to gain your glory in my life. I want to go from glory to glory. In many areas we are so far from God’s nature, His love, His beauty. But today God wants to encourage us to seek His glory. God has given us a promise in Haggai 2:9, “ ‘The latter glory of this house will be greater than the former,’ says the Lord of hosts, ‘and in this place I will give peace,’ declares the Lord of hosts.” Let us seek God’s glory in our life!
