UNVEILING FOR THE GLORY (3)

“For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us” (Romans 8:18 NKJV).

Glory does not walk naked on the streets of humanity. It often comes under the cloak of suffering –sacrifice, hardship, difficulties, and trials. A man from Congo was handed a sack of diamond ore valued several thousands of dollars.  The man looked at the sack and wondered what he was going to do with a sack of dirt, not realising what it was, he dumped the sack at the corner of his house.  Several months passed and a neighbour visited him; on sighting the sack, he inquired what was inside it. The man who owns the sack answered with a sigh, “nothing but a pack of dirt.” The inquisitive visitor decided to look closely at the dirt in the sack and recognised it was unprocessed diamonds. He asked for some water in a basin and began washing a little of the dirt, and some colourful stones emerged, which both of them confirmed to be diamonds.

As the diamonds were wrapped in dirt, so is glory often wrapped in sacrifice.  Paul therefore encourages us never to lose heart in the face of difficulties. “Therefore we do not lose heart. Even though our outward man is perishing, yet the inward man is being renewed day by day. For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:16-17 NKJV). Anything we acclaim as glorious comes at a price. Take education for example. It takes arduous efforts and determined sacrifice spanning over several years to acquire sound education. However, once acquired, it opens the doors to myriad of life-enhancing opportunities most of which would not have been possible without it. The glory of God, while it cannot be earned by the best of human efforts, requires disciplined sacrifices to experience it.  Some lousy habits may have to be relinquished and godly ones cultivated to replace them.  Certainly one must be willing to die to self if one is serious about experiencing glory.

¹Therefore we also, since we are surrounded by so great a cloud of witnesses, let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which so easily ensnares us, and let us run with endurance the race that is set before us, ²looking unto Jesus, the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before Him endured the cross, despising the shame, and has sat down at the right hand of the throne of God. (Hebrews 12:1-2 NKJV)

We must lay aside sins and weights that so easily entrap  us and run the race that is set before us, by following the examples of Christ  who endured the cross to access glory.  The Cross is our bridge to glory. Hence, Paul exhorts us never to compromise the coming glory because of whatever present suffering we might be going through. God is about to reveal His glory in us so we can radiate it to the world. While the world is overcome with gross darkness, “the Lord will arise over you, and His glory will be seen upon you” (Isaiah 60:2 NKJV).

The overarching purpose of God in revealing His glory upon you is so that “the Gentiles shall come to your light, and kings to the brightness of your rising” (Isaiah 60:3 NKJV) and by so doing encounter Christ who is the Lord of glory. Reaching the unreached with the gospel and bringing the unchurched into the house of God remains the consuming passion of God and undying expectation of creation.  “For the earnest expectation of the creation eagerly waits for the revealing of the sons of God” (Romans 8:19 NKJV). The creation will witness the manifestation of the sons of God as we soak in His Presence and receive deposits of His glory. The world needs to the see the glory of God upon His children if they must come to Him and no sacrifice should be too much for us to make in order to facilitate the glorious ingathering.

May the Lord see in you the genuine hunger and longing for His glory. He will surely satisfy your desire and cause His glory to alight upon you. Keep your eyes on His as the Holy Spirit transforms you from glory to GLORY in Jesus’ Name.