Glory -- what a concept.
It's funny how in one chapter of PDL the author can seemingly contradict himself. In one paragraph he talks about there only being two of God's creations failing to bring glory to Him -- fallen angels and people. One of my first thoughts was, 'Wait a minute! We are part of God's creation, and His very creation reflects His glory and glorifies Him!' And then he goes on in the very next paragraph to describe 'The glory of God is a human being fully alive!' I guess the distinction the author is making is a human that acknowleges his or her Creator and lives the zoe abundant life God gave them the potential for. But I don't quite buy that. I think that even a non-believer glorifies God simply because their bodies, minds, spirit -- very being -- is crafted in a brilliant way that glorifies God. The point is easily understood; I just seem to find fault with taking things literally and taking thoughts to their logical conclusions, which is where some of these statements fail (IMHO).
The biblical context for glory, in this chapter, however, quite simply implies action. Loving others glorifies God. Conforming to His will glorifies God. Using the gifts He's given us glorifies God. The point is simple and pointed. What a joy it is to know that something that we are doing can actually bring glory to the One we love. That's right, weak, sinful, feeble us are actually accomplishing glorification. That is something to be excited about. It's such a sweet joy, in my experience, to have that awareness/thought/feeling that what I'm active in doing (whether that be volunteering at Sunday School or a nursing home or visiting a prisoner or sick person) is pleasing to our Father. Awesome! That's something I want!
Looks like our new website design is going to launch anytime soon. This will alleviate the endless loop problem I'm having using Internet Explorer. Talk to you later.
Posted by Doug Van Pelt at March 2, 2004 02:00 PM