Understanding Glory

8.15.2011

John 17:1, 5 1 After Jesus said this, he looked toward heaven and prayed:“Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.
5 And now, Father, glorify me in your presence with the glory I had with you before the world began. NIV

Those who dwell in glory understand glory. Those who dwell outside of glory and without glory don’t. Jesus prayed for glory. I pray for stupid things like more money, more health, a nicer car, medical benefits, and a great vacation. Jesus prayed for glory.

When you know where you come from, what you’re to do; what you’ve done, and where you’re going, glory has a different appeal. When you only live for today, putting one foot in front of the other, hoping you can last until the next paycheck comes, glory seems like a fairy-tale.

Jeremiah the prophet didn’t seem to worry about paychecks, he seemed more worried about keeping his life while preaching God’s word to a clueless and rebellious nation; to a wicked people who’d forsaken God – and lost their sense of glory (Cf. Jeremiah 20).

Jesus understood glory and prized it because God’s glory was His home; it was His haven. He didn’t pray for deliverance. Jesus didn’t pray for traveling mercies. He didn’t pray for a job, or a car, or a 401k; Jesus prayed for glory because He knew that’s where He was from and to where He was returning. And glory is where all of us need to remember we’re going if we hang out with Jesus. Glory is in God’s presence. Glory is God’s presence. And glory is doing what God tells me to do. Glory isn’t the Superbowl, or the World Series, or the Stanley Cup, or even the World Cup – no, glory is that heavenly recognition which is bestowed by God on the willingly, joyfully obedient.

Jesus died and was welcomed into glory. Jeremiah died and was welcomed into glory. But Jesus died and rose again and in His resurrected body reclaimed the glory that was His from before the world began. And now for all eternity wears the glory of God as a Man who did what the first man couldn’t: obey. The garments of the godly are the garments of obedience; despised in this world, but worthy of glory in the next. Jesus prayed for glory because He did as instructed.  Jeremiah wears the garments of glory because he did what God told him to do.

Seeking glory from God is a noble cause because it overshadows the glory of this globe in a way that is eternally memorable to everyone who both wears it and shares it…