“Let him who glories, glory in the Lord.” - 1 Corinthians1:31
The body of every Born Again
Believer is the temple of the Holy Ghost (1 Corinthians 6:19). When
God moves in and dwells within us, we reflect His glory to the world around us (2 Corinthians 3:18). We were created for His glory and everything we do,
even if it is as simple as what we eat and drink, is all done for the glory of
God (Isaiah 43:7; 1
Corinthians 10:31).
The good news is that Jesus
demolished our need to strive to be good by His death on the cross. Jesus is
the radiance of God’s glory and God’s exact representation (Hebrews 1:3). We actually died with Christ and our life is now
hidden with Christ in God (Colossians 3:3). Our hope is in the
glory of the Lord (Romans
5:2). When Christ, who is our life,
appears to set up His Kingdom on the earth, then we also will appear with Him
in glory (Colossians
3:4). As we live in unity with Him, and
enter into His rest, His glory is manifested in us and through us (Isaiah 60:1; Luke 10:27; Acts 1:8).
Once we surrender our life
to God through faith in Jesus Christ, the Spirit of God moves in. He guides us
and fills us with the fruit of His Spirit. As love, joy, peace, longsuffering,
gentleness, goodness, meekness, self-control and faith permeate our
personality, the glory of God is manifested through us (Galatians 5:22-23). Daily, we grow more like Christ by the transforming work of
His power within us (Romans
8:30). Therefore, God’s glory grows more
radiant in us as well.
We can do nothing to create
these conditions in our life. If we try, there is a danger that people will
label us as a hypocrite, because our flesh and spirit war against one another.
Until the sanctifying process does its perfect work in us, we all slip out of
the Spirit and into the flesh from time to time, especially if we try to live
the Christian life in our own strength. We humans love delusion and we often
seek false gods (Psalm
4:2). We veer off the straight and
narrow road and join the masses on the wide road to destruction.
The remedy for this is to enter
into God’s rest. In this place of peace, we cease from our striving (Hebrews 4:10-11). We focus instead on ministering from the perspective
of our rest in Christ (Hebrews
4:3). We enter His rest simply by surrendering
to the Holy Spirit within us. Then, God takes our negative thoughts and
transforms them into the mind of Christ. Our behavior is influenced by our
thoughts, so it too is renewed. We end up with a calm confidence in the power
and position we have with Christ living within us, which is actually our hope
of living in glory for eternity (Colossians 1:27).
When we live to the praise of our Father, everyone recognizes that His glory is
manifested in and through us (Philippians 1:11). All of us, who
had that veil of sin removed from our eyes through faith in Christ, can now see
and reflect the glory of the Lord. The Spirit of the Lord makes us more and
more like Jesus each day, and we are changed into his glorious image (2 Corinthians 3:18). As we surrender our will to God’s, draw near to Him
and obey his calling on our life, we abound in and are filled with the fruits
of our right standing with God. Now He can do more through us than we could
ever manage on our own.
Prayer:
Lord Jesus, You are the Word
of God, and yet you became a human being and made Your home among us. You are
full of unfailing love and faithfulness. We see Your glory revealed in our
lives as the Spirit does His sanctifying work within us. May we always reflect Your
glory as we fulfill Your purpose for us during our lifetime.
Thought for the Day:
“So if the old way of the
law, which has been replaced by the Spirit, was glorious, how much more
glorious is the new life through the Holy Spirit, which remains forever!” – 2
Corinthians 3:8Thank you, Jean Frank, for the use of your photo.
