All I have is yours, and all you have is mine. And glory has come to me through them.
As Jesus began his prayer, he looked to heaven and prayed to the Father, “Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you.”
This idea of being glorified might seem simple to some, but to me, it seems like a very deep well. How does glory coexist with humility? The glory Jesus speaks of is not the glory of a star athlete or that of a rock star or a military hero. The glory Jesus speaks of is no more than the honor due to the one who is the source of all life, the Creator of everything. In a sense, it is simply recognizing God for who he is.
Jesus has just affirmed that the disciples know “with certainty” that he has come from the Father. (Verse 8b) They believe this absolutely. All doubt is gone. Because of this, they obey the Father’s word. (Verse 6b) This belief honors God. Obedience honors God. Honor is the kind of glory that God is looking for. This honor is not the flattery that comes from man’s lips. Rather, it is the respect that is made visible through man’s actions.
I have a very simple and somewhat embarrassing example of this principle.
This summer I started building what I called my “Water Feature” in the back yard. I had envisioned this beautiful stone structure with water cascading from one pool to the next. I have puttered with this on and off over the whole summer and sadly it hasn’t worked out quite the way I was hoping for. You see it works, but it leaks. And the leaks are proving very hard to overcome.
Now the point of my little example is this: When I look at the Water Feature when it is working, I feel pleased and honored by my creation. It is, after all, doing what it is supposed to be doing. Then when I have to deal with the leaks and the pump starts sputtering for lack of water, I am embarrassed and frustrated. It is not doing what it is supposed to be doing.
Perhaps glory means something similar to God.
He is not looking for human praise. He is looking for humans to be what he intended us to be. Sins are the “leaks” in his creation. Jesus is the cure. In Jesus, we can fulfill God’s vision for his creation. In Jesus, we are reunited with our Creator. Through Jesus, reunited with our Father, God, we can love as God loves. We honor and worship our Creator in love, and in so doing we glorify both Jesus and our Father. In this light, glory and humility are able to go hand in hand.
Food for thought: How do you define the kind of glory that Jesus is talking about in his prayer?
I really like this devotion brother. And I like the photo as well.
When I think of God’s glory I think of Him being made known to the people He has created. When we glorify Him we resemble Him and He is seen through those created in His image and we make Him known to others as we reflect His glory. One reason He must be glorified is because we desperately need to see Him and know Him. This is to our benefit. It is not a selfish act that He is glorified – it is a merciful act.
Rich,
Thank you for the kind comment and your thoughts. You are so right: He must be glorified because we do desperately need to see Him and know Him. It is a challenging concept to get one’s head around!