Humans can live for self-glory and know nothing about living for divine glory. Glory is the manifest presence of the Lord. Remember the pillar of cloud by day and pillar of fire by night; remember the overwhelming presence in both the Tent of Meeting and the temple where the priests could not come near. Remember Jesus on the Mount of Transfiguration. The glory has been experienced in a service of worship; even those in liturgical traditions say that they have seen and experienced the Lord at the Lord’s table. Quakers sometimes experienced it as silence. There are accounts that the “glory” was seen as glowing faces of godly saints and mystics who walked with and in its aura. It is a mystery that cannot be controlled or manipulated; but it is as real as God is real. What if our personal lives and our worship was living toward glory and living from glory? What if we saw our attempts to generate it with cheap worship tactics as the idolatry that it is? What if we were so focused on Him that folks sensed not us but Him?
Jesus, Your disciples saw You and beheld Your glory in human flesh (John 1:14). You sent Your Holy Spirit to live in us, human flesh, so that, as Your temples, we would be houses in which Your Glory dwells and persons who reflect the manifest presence of the Lord in our daily lives. Forgive us for our self-glory and bring us to Your glory. Amen!
