glory

Glory to God in the highest…

 

We sing that phrase a lot this time of year in all kinds of Christmas carols.  I always think about all the people who have no real relationship to Christ or the church, but every year as they walk through their malls or at home while decorating their Christmas trees, sing these words and others like them.   I wonder how much of these words get into their heart.  How many of them realize that at that moment, they are offering praise to a God that they have not yet met, but loves them more than they can imagine.

 

Makes me think that God had this planned from the beginning…because if God's word cannot come back to him void, and many are singing the very words sometimes that comes from scripture, is there something happening they don't know or can't see?   Is God right there with them…ministering life to them?  Is he lifting burdens they've never asked to have lifted?   Is he 'wooing' them with his love, stirring their heart to know this God? 

 

The word glory is often defined from the original languages of scripture as "weight" or "significance."  Could it be that instead of this glowing light we imagine glory to be that rests on saint's heads, that glory is really the weight of who he is?  The value you place on someone in your life adds to their weight.   We say "we give weight to their words."  We place value on their spot in our lives.  We give them glory.  

 

The scripture says that the whole earth is filled with the glory of God.  And for years I thought that meant there would be a tangible presence of God in every place on earth.   But maybe what it really means is that the significance and relevance of God is displayed in every corner of the globe? 

 

If glory is the weight or value or significance that we place on God, then glory isn't just something that comes with God, but it's something that we offer God; something that we give out of our very beings.   The more we do it, the more we see him in our day to day life.  The more we see him, the more tangible his presence comes to our mind and hearts.   The more tangible he is in our lives, the more others can experience him…his glory covers the earth.

 

What do you and I give significance to?  What value do we place on God's position in our lives?   Where do we offer him glory?  When we do we participate in the filling of the earth with all that he is.  Give him glory!