THOUGHT FOR TODAY... Those who have been justified by grace through faith rejoice, Paul explained, “in hope of the glory of God” (Rom. 5:1, 2). What true believers hope for – the proper objective of faith – is to know God in His glory, to engage His presence and participate in Him so that the “weight” of His holiness, goodness, power, love, and majesty bears down on and clothes us with transforming power (2 Cor. 3:12-18). This, after all, is the essence of eternal life (Jn. 17:3). If in our practice of faith we hope for anything less than this, our hope is misplaced and our faith is false. We may hope for full houses of worship, the success of some campaign or program, or recovery from illness or injury. We may even pray earnestly for such good and reasonable outcomes. But if these are the objective of our faith, the ultimate outcome we seek, then we may find ourselves disappointed that our sincerity does not bear fruit. When we hope for something less than the glory of God, what we hope for occupies the space of our imagination, and we seek to realize the thing we desire as an end in itself – an end pleasing to us. But if we do not seek the glory of God – the realization of His presence and honor – as the ultimate objective of all our prayers and believing, then our faith is false and likely to be unfruitful. Rather than plead with God to know His glory, we “hope” to realize this or that outcome, so that the thing we seek comes short of the thing God wants us to know. If, on the other hand, we hope in the glory of God, our prayer, in whatever we may be seeking, will be continuously like that of Moses, “Show me Your glory!” In which case, we may confidently expect that God Who has called us to His Kingdom and glory (1 Thess. 2:12), commands us to do all things unto His glory (1 Cor. 10:31), and is determined to fill the earth with the knowledge of His glory (Hab. 2:14) will certainly enable us to realize the thing we seek – to know Him in His glory. Comments?
Posted on: Sun, 01 Sep 2013 12:16:00 +0000
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