Glory – By Pastor/Elder Rene Milner

  Posted on October 15, 2023  by   No comments

 A Psalm of David. The heavens declare the glory of God, and the sky above proclaims his handiwork. Day to day pours out speech, and night to night reveals knowledge. There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard. Psalm 19:1-3

 After words like these what is left to say? And yet I have not learned the skill of staying quiet. So, I will share a few of my thoughts with you.

Lately I have been pondering the idea of being a rock. I think that being a rock would be ideal. Think about it. As humans what is the best we can do? God is glorious by His nature. We cannot increase His glory. All we can do is not subtract from it. A rock just gives glory to God. It never tries to claim that glory for itself.  Unfortunately, what we can do is try to take away from His glory. As we claim to achieve something or be something in ourselves, we take away from what God is doing and make His glory seem less to others. As human beings, our ‘doings’ often confuse people about the nature and grandeur of God. We say one thing and do another. We talk about God in a way that seems to diminish how genuinely great and glorious He is. A rock does not do that. A rock never claims to be something more than it is. A rock never seeks glory for itself. A rock just is. Sure, man can take a rock and shape or polish it to appeal to himself but when we do that, we take a little glory for ourselves. Look at what I did! The rock is still the rock, and it gives no more or less praise to God. It just continues to speak its same small praise day after day and night after night.

Over the years I have struggled with a simple complex phrase. “I can do nothing, but I can’t do nothing.” When it comes to the only important question in life, I can do nothing to rescue myself and yet because I am rescued, I cannot sit back and do nothing. So, what do I do? Like a rock, I do what I am created for. And what am I created for? Well, like any part of the creation, I am created to proclaim His handiwork and reveal the knowledge of Him. He has told you, O man, what is good; and what does the LORD require of you but to do justice, and to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God? In this we proclaim the glory of God. If we genuinely love God and our neighbor, we judge mercifully in humility. We do justice and treat others kindly and have a right view of ourselves as simple rocks and God as the Glorious One.

So, whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. For it is all for your sake, so that as grace extends to all people it may increase thanksgiving, to the glory of God.  It is my prayer that our love may abound with knowledge and all discernment, so that we may examine and proclaim only what is excellent, and so be pure and blameless for the day of Christ, filled with the fruit of righteousness that comes through Jesus Christ, to the glory and praise of God. That in the end every tongue will confess that Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father. To Him alone Be the Glory!!

PS: Truly, we do not have a word to describe God’s glory. If we say He is more glorious than a certain thing, then we are ascribing some glory to something created and taking away glory from the Creator. When it comes to glory, it all belongs to God. A zero-sum game. He will not share this. We need a word that is glory that can only be used of God. We can never increase God’s glory. He is GLORY.