Chase the Glory, Pt 3
- Sep 16, 2018
- 8 min read
So to start us off, I want to share a short story with you. It is one of the best stories I keep tucked in my belt! In my mid-twenties, I was able to take a 2-week vacation with my parents and my sister to travel all throughout the state of California. We visited national parks, San Diego, San Francisco along with various vineyard countries and so forth. It was absolutely breathtaking. My dad did most of the driving throughout all of the mountain ranges, but there was one specific stretch that my sister was behind the wheel. As my parents were stretched out in the back seat, my sister and I were of course leading out in various anthems of karaoke. All of the sudden, in the middle of the Sequoia National Park, we catch a sharp turn and begin going downhill. It was nothing too crazy, but your car is sure to pick up speed quite fast. If you have driven in national parks like this, you know that there is a graceful method to not putting too much stress on your brakes as well. As we are traveling down, all of the sudden, a squirrel pops out of the grassy bush and it was like one of those animated cartoon moments. I would be lying to you if I told you the squirrels eyes did not pop out of its head! He was so caught off guard and did not know which way to turn.... right..left..no, right..le--...ahhhhh!!! The next thing that comes out of my mouth as this squirrel and I stared deeply into each other's eyes was, "Save the nuts!!!" At this point, my sister is laughing hysterically to the extent of almost peeing in her pants and cannot catch her breath. My dad is all frazzled because he has no idea what is going on from waking out of a short nap. My mom is laughing along because her daughters cannot get themselves together. Mr. Squirrel had the look of fear and terror written all over his face that day and I am happy to inform you that he did not die.
I do not know what squirrels have to do with chasing the glory of God...I just wanted us to have a good laugh together before digging in.
Let's do a short recap together of all that has been mentioned so far. In this series, I have stated two things:
1. All of us have fallen short of God's glory. (Romans 3:23)
2. Jesus came to the earth first and foremost to glorify The Father to accomplish the will of God. (John 17:1-16)
Both of these are focal theological points in which our faith rests on because it first confesses who we are and second it acknowledges and declares who Jesus is.
In the last post, I asked the question, "What was The Son's motive in accomplishing the will of The Father?" I am convinced through the reading of scripture that Jesus' motive for accomplishing the will of The Father is love. His obedience was out of His love for The Father. John 14:9-12 helps us to peak into the reality that The Father loves His Son, The Son loves and obeys the Father...Jesus loves us and commands us to do the same. In Part 2 of Chasing the Glory, I asked: "How can God's infinite universe not revolve around me but at the same time love me so deep and consider me to be more worthy than the lilies of the field?" Honestly, I think it is a question that all of us ask in our own way when we are seeking our purpose. We ask, "If God matters the most, do I even matter at all? If His will is abundantly sovereign and He is going to do whatever He wants to do, does it matter that I am even here?" In short, why on earth am I here? These are great questions to struggle with. I believe we find the heart of God in the study of these questions. Before we continue, I have a short video by Francis Chan that I believe can help illustrate a point that we need to consider. Please consider watching this 3 min video before continuing to read on.
Wow. Pretty incredible right? The God of all creation is in control of every one of the galaxies. He spoke them into being. The gospel of John says, "In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made...He was in the world, and the world was made through Him, and the world did not know Him" (John 1:1-4, 10).
In the story of Creation, we know that God created Adam to have relationship first and foremost with Him. We also know that God chose to create for Adam a helper who was made from his own bones to suit Adam. We know her as the lovely Eve. I believe this exchange is one of the most beautiful depictions of love and relationship with God that we have in the Bible! God loves Adam so much that He creates all that he needs in the garden. He walks with Adam in the cool of the day. They have perfect fellowship and relationship. He then has a woman created from His own bones and so that they can enjoy each other's presence. He did all of this for His creation to know who God is! Adam and Eve held the light of God within them and there was perfect unity between the two and God. If we hold the story of Creation and the story of Jesus coming into the world in tandem, I believe we can find the heart of Father God.
God wants to be known, but He wants to be known for who He really is... and the way that He describes Himself is "I am that I am" (Ex 3:14). God makes Himself known in the Garden of Eden as Creator, Sovereign, Lover, Life-Giver, Relationship Seeker, Pursuer, Father, Just, Gracious, and so many more things. He wants to be known because He knows that all that we need must be found in Him first. His glory, which is the manifestation of His holiness making it's way into the physical realm, is the light that all men either praise or reject. There is no middle ground. When Adam and Eve sinned in the garden, God put a curse on the earth, people, and Satan. He would also promise through prophecy that His Son would come into the earth to break the curse so that relationship could rightly be restored.
And so, "...the true Light which gives light to every man {was} coming into the world" (John 1:9). The only one who can manifest the glory of God (the holiness) would be the Son, Jesus Christ. He is the only One who would be able to break the curse of sin by becoming the curse on a tree. He would be the only One who would restore relationship to God through offering and sacrificing His perfect blood to God. If you are so busy chasing after a "dream" or a "destiny", let me remind you that we were not first created to be somebody... we were created to know Somebody. We come to know who we are when we are found in Christ. In Him, we move and breathe and have our existence (Acts 17:28). God found it to be the most important relationship that He sent His only Son to die the most awful execution for us to have complete access at His throne of grace through Jesus. When we are most satisfied in God, His glory is most manifested is us which causes us to have a deep satisfaction that no man, woman or thing could ever suffice. For some of you, you might be chasing after drugs, porn, money, or an unhealthy relationship (even with your children) because your spouse is not filling a need. For others, you might be chasing after all the little programs and the status of church because it takes away the sting of guilt, shame, and loneliness for a small second. Others of you might be chasing after marriage, children, a job, and the house of your dreams. When anything in our hearts is filling a space to numb us or make us have a euphoria feeling because we are not satisfied, we are only filling our hearts with a temporary thing that will not last. We are building idols. Our love and admiration is going in a direction that is not toward finding satisfaction in God first.
So how do we practically apply chasing after the glory of God? How do we practically chase His Presence and seek His face each day?
Let's recap on a few things before answering this.
1. We must believe that God is God... first and foremost. He cannot be tamed, manipulated, or even fully described with words. He will always be more than we can describe, but He is always enough!
2. God wants to be known for who He is really is. The only way to know Him is through a relationship with Jesus that begins with our confession and repentance of our sin and giving Him Lordship over our life. It is surrendering to sitting on the throne of your own heart and telling Him He can take His rightful place. By faith, through His grace, ask Him to come into your life.
3. His Word is the inerrant, infallible, and the absolute authority. It is God-breathed and to know Him and what He says we must read and study Scripture so that we will come to find His character and nature. If any voice is swaying you opposite of what the Word says, watch out! That voice is under the influence of an anti-christ spirit. Our world is heavily influenced by such a voice.
4. All of this must be through the power of the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is the third Person of the The Trinity. He is the Spirit of God--living, alive, moving, and breathing. He is the One who illuminates The Word in our hearts...gives us strength and power to do that which is the will of God not in our own power...He convicts, teaches, corrects, encourages, and speaks only what The Father is saying.
So! I will ask this question again:
How do we practically apply chasing the glory of God?
Once again, I am going to stop there for today (I know, the suspense!). The last post for this series will be dealing with answering this question through looking at a few people who chased after the glory of God in scripture.
Until then, I encourage you to look at the life of Moses, Elijah, Isaiah, John the Baptist, Paul, and even John, the disciple of Jesus. These lives had incredible testimonies of chasing Jehovah! Ask the Holy Spirit what He wants to speak to you and don't be afraid to dig deeply into the Word of God this week! You are so loved by Him whom all things have been made from! He cares deeply for you and whatever pressures you face today. Whether circumstance or trial changes, whether healing or sickness breaks forth, whether you have 10,000 by your side or only one...God is with you. His glory is your rear guard (Is 58:8).
By Grace,
Cortney Rae
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