Glimpsing God’s Glory

By Brian Mitchell       You’ve probably heard it said: “There are two sure things in life: #1 – There is a God, and #2 – You are not Him!” As we grow in our understanding of those two realities we must realize that it’s not about us, rather it’s all about God. Life and reality don’t revolve around us, rather they revolve around God.     One handle we need to graps is the illustration of the moon - we must be the moon that reflects the Son of God. The other handle is the example of John the Baptizer who said, “He must increase, I must decrease” – John understood it was all about Jesus and not about him. To begin we must consider the glory of our God. If we don’t rightly grasp who God is, we can’t rightly reflect who God is. People often misunderstand God and try to put him in a box of their own making. Even believers can be guilty of inaccurately portraying God.     Some people wrongly view God as “God the cowboy” who is ready to gun us down if we get out of line. Some people wrongly view God as “God the good buddy” who is just a great friend. Some people wrongly view God as “God the clockmaker” who wound up the universe and it just letting it run out on its own. While other people wrongly view God as “God the good luck charm” who they only pull out when they are in trouble.     There are many other inaccurate portrayals of God that we might end up with, and that’s why it is so important that our view of God is based on God’s true revelation of Himself. Today, I want to take us on a short journey back to three moments in time when God revealed something of His glory. I pray that these glimpses into God’s glory will help us begin to grasp the glory of our God.     What we will see as we do is that Moses needed a glimpse of God’s glory, Stephen needed a glimpse of God’s glory and Saul of Tarsus needed a glimpse of God’s glory. Do you or I have any less of a need for the glimpse of God’s glory? Moses needed a glimpse of God’s glory because of a desert and 40 years of great challenges that lay ahead. Stephen needed a glimpse of God’s glory to remain faithful in the midst of false accusations and the rocks of martyrdom that fell on him. Saul of Tarsus needed a glimpse of God’s glory to bring him to repentance and enable him to become God’s chosen instrument to spread the good news of Jesus Christ in the face of all kinds of hardship and persecution.     And all of us desperately need a glimpse of God’s glory to carry us along in life and ministry. We are all living in dying bodies, existing on a decaying planet, surrounded by a self-centered, anti-Christian society. These are no small issues, and thankfully we have no small God. Our God is great and full of glory, and we need a greater grasp of God’s glory. And let us never forget that it is all about God, not about us.

- Brian Mitchell served as a minister with the Jackson Church of Christ in Jackson, MO. Please visit the congregation's website at https://www.jacksonchurchofchrist.net