Psalm 8:3-5 “When I consider the heavens, the works of your fingers, the moon and the stars which you have made, what is man, that you are mindful of him? And the son of man that you care for him? For you have made him a little lower than angels and have covered him with glory and honor.”
During worship last night, I was invited to come into the place where the glory of the Lord dwells. It is a place where the only thing that matters is God Himself and as I came into that place, I heard the Lord say to me, “You were made for glory!” As I listened to the Lord speak these words over me, I knew it was not just about me, it was about humanity, people. God made us as people for glory. But almost instantly during this time in worship, I also heard Romans 1:23 “And changed the glory of the incorruptible God into an image made like man, and to birds and four footed beasts, and creeping things.”
It was as though everything stopped in my head other than these two phrases, we were made for glory, but we have exchanged that glory for an image.
It is no secret that Christianity does not carry the influence it has in the past; it is known to most that we have fallen short of who we were created to be; so the problem is not the issue we need to discuss, rather what we need to know is what is the solution. I believe part of the answer is that we need to recognize that we were made for glory. For too many years in church we have been taught that God does not share His glory with anyone, but He says in Psalm 8 and Genesis 1 that we were made for glory. So, we can no longer use this as an excuse as to why we are not living in glory.
The truth is, we are not clear what glory is. Glory means high renown or honor; magnificence, great beauty; take great pride or pleasure in. This sounds like we give our kids glory and so why can’t God give us His children glory. We are reminded constantly that God loves us, He is for us, nothing can separate us from Him, so why are we so afraid to live in glory? God Himself is so big that if you live in the glory He made you for, you will not detract from His glory, but actually add to it.
We were made for glory, it is time we stop exchanging our glory for shame. The only way to live out who you were made to be is to take off your animal skins that you have made to hide yourself; stop making excuses as to why you can’t; and start believing that God is not a man that He should lie, but rather He is truth, He does not say things He does not mean. We were made for glory and the world needs to see us living out our glory. The only way to know what that looks like for you, is to spend time alone with Him. He made you for glory, so you can come near Him in glory. You are made of the same material as He is.
The way for us as Christians to begin influencing societal transformation is to live like we were made, made for glory!
