GOD’S GLORY ON DISPLAY

THOUGHT:
God’s glory is the magnificence of His splendour. It’s part of who God is. His character and His nature. It is too wonderful for anybody to put into words. When His attributes are seen in our lives, God Himself is seen in our lives. His glory is displayed in our activity.

It pleased God to have his whole nature living in Christ, so whenever anybody looks at Jesus Christ, they are looking at God. Jesus is God’s glory on display for all to see.

Becoming a Christian is turning back to God and asking Jesus to occupy your life. The Christian now lives to please Christ instead of pleasing self. Everything we did at one time was to show the world who we are. Now we are on display for Jesus. God’s magnificence should start to shine through our lives.

For whatever reason God has decided to reveal Himself to people through people. God chose us to show Himself to others. We are His body and He is our head. We take our instructions from Him and His glory is on display through our lives.

TIME TO THINK:
Does my life reflect the glory (goodness) of God?
What’s one thing I could change to better represent who God is?

PRAYER:
Father, it is amazing that you have decided to dwell in our broken lives. Your glory is seen in our activity when we do the things You

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FOLLOWING….

“The Shocking Truth About Following Jesus”

At the end of Luke 9, we find a story about three men who approached Jesus, eager to follow him. In surprising fashion, though, Jesus seems to have tried to talk them out of doing so.

The first guy said, “I will follow you wherever you go.”

Jesus responded, “Foxes have holes and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has no place to lay his head.” In other words, Jesus told this man that he could expect homelessness on the journey ahead. Followers of Christ are not guaranteed that even their basic need of shelter will be met.

The second man told Jesus that his father had just died. The man wanted to go back, bury his father, and then follow Jesus.

Jesus replied, “Let the dead bury their own dead, but you go and proclaim the kingdom of God.” I remember distinctly when my own dad died, and I cannot imagine hearing these words from Jesus.

A third man approached Jesus and told him that he wanted to follow him, but before he did, he wanted to say good-bye to his family.

Jesus wouldn’t let him. He told the man, “No one who puts his hand to the plow and looks back is fit for service in the kingdom of God.” Plainly put, a relationship with Jesus requires total, superior, and exclusive devotion.

Let’s put ourselves in the shoes of these would-be followers of Jesus in the first century. What if I were the potential disciple being told to become homeless? What if you were the one who was supposed to let someone else bury your dad? What if we were told that we couldn’t even say good-bye to our families?

This is where we come face to face with a dangerous reality. We do have to give up everything we have to follow Jesus. We do have to love him in a way that supersedes our closest relationships in this world. For that’s what it means to live out the biblical gospel rather than our cultural assumptions of what it means to follow Jesus.

Let us determine not to spend our lives on anything but radical abandonment to our Savior.

What should you cut out of your life, starting today, if Jesus is your overriding priority?