Glory

II Corinthians 3:7-11 "Now if the ministry of death, carved in letters on stone, came with such glory that the Israelites could not gaze at Moses' face because of its glory, which was being brought to an end, will not the ministry of the Spirit have even more glory? For if there was glory in the ministry of the condemnation, the ministry of righteousness must far exceed it in glory. Indeed, in this case, what once had glory has come to have no glory at all, because of the glory that surpasses it. For if what was being brought to an end came with glory, much more will what is permanent have glory."

I was utterly amazed today by this passage this morning, especially where Paul was talking about the Law, and how it brings death. With the knowledge of the Law comes sin and death. This ministry came with glory though, this ministry which brings sin, death, and is being brought to an end still came with glory. Paul's painting this bleak picture of the letter of the Law to show the contrast between the Law and the New Covenant, which is the Gospel. Christ has freed us from the death that comes with the knowledge of the Law, Paul's point being how much more glory will come with this new ministry, the ministry of the Spirit, righteousness, and Christ. This ministry's glory far exceeds the glory of the Law even to the point that it removes the glory of the Law. I think I would say that what glory once was with the Law is now with Christ, transferred might be the right word. Christ fulfilled every last requirement of the Law bringing it and all of it's requirements to an end.

He has done this once and for all. Christ is permanent, how much more will His glory be. The Law brought death and Christ brings life, how much more will His glory be. The Law condemns and Christ brings righteousness, how much more will His glory be.

It is truly amazing to see how God has accomplished revealing His glory to us through giving us the Law and then fulfilling it's requirement all by Himself (one more aspect of truth that shows God independence of all things). This is also more evidence to show that God's purpose for us being here is for us to see His glory. We can't do anything to add to His glory, He is glory, and He's as glorious as He'll ever be. He has to do everything in order to show us His glory. We can't find it, He has to reveal His glory to us, so we will know that He is the Lord.

Earnest Desire

Paul's command to us in I Corinthians 14:1 that we "pursue love, and earnestly desire the spiritual gifts" makes me wonder if I really desire these gifts. My spiritual gifts are exhortation and wisdom, I believe, and I look for occasion in which I can use these gifts, but I don't pray for God to give me more wisdom or for any ability in exhorting one another. I'm not earnestly desiring them, I'm not praying for them, I'm not praying for other's spiritual gifts, and I'm not pursuing them the way I should be. This has really taught me how to pray for myself and others.

It Never Ends

After reading I Corinthians 13 I was really impacted by how love never ends. Paul's talking about spiritual gifts and moves into chapter 13 explaining that if you do these things but don't have love your works are worthless. Then he moves on describing what true Biblical love is, but ends it by saying, "Love never ends." How awesome is it to consider the fact that we won't need so many things after this life, but we'll still need love. More importantly we'll still have love, but it will be perfect love.

Tremble.

I was reading in Truth Matters by John Macarthur this morning and hew as talking about God's holiness and man's response to being in the His presence. He talked about Isaiah and other's who's response was to fall on their face and tremble before a holy God. I saw that stuff coming, but I haven't ever thought about this attribute belonging to Christ (at least not in the same sense). I had never thought about anyone recognizing the fact that Christ is God and in turn trembling before Him. The instances he gave were the woman who touched His garments and was healed and Peter after they were fishing and Christ almost sank their boats with the amount of fish that they hauled in. It makes me think about how often I recognize my sinfulness and tremble before a holy God. I am redeemed by His blood, but I still sin against this holy God. Isaiah was a prophet chosen by God and he fell on his face before this holy God. It makes me realize that I'll never know the magnitude of my sin until I see God as being as holy as He is.

Oh, To Be Balanced.

I received a word of encouragement from Christ the other day, he told me he was reading in Proverbs and that he was reminded of me. He couldn't remember the verse but his recollection of it was something to the effect that " A wise man overlooks transgression." All I could find in Proverbs that reminds me of this is 29:11 "A fool gives full vent to his spirit, but a wise man quietly holds it back."

My first response to this is that this may be me, but if I'm going to err on this point it's going to be on the side of apathy. So I took the compliment, but not without my own self-deprecating caveat.

As I was thinking about this today it dawned on me that whenever someone gives me a compliment I have to remind myself of all the sin that's in my life, just to offset the compliment. It might not sound like that bad of a thing to do; however, it seems that my friends have seen fit to remind me of the grace that God has shown me in my life. The thing on my mind seems to be my flesh trying to bring me down. I just can't seem to accept the fact that God may actually be doing something in my life.

I'm in a dating relationship with a girl right now, Kala, and for the longest time I wouldn't even consider a relationship with this girl because I considered her to be too godly for me. Not only is this not fair to her or any other woman out there that this may be happening to, but I'm finding that it's just not true. I'm not saying that Kala is not as godly as I thought she was, quite the opposite actually. I'm finding though that she's even more godly than I originally assumed. What I'm also finding is that even though I feel as if I'm not good enough for her, I'm still able to lead her, encourage her, pray for her, love her, serve her, and even challenge her.

I also got a letter from Charlie this week and he gave me about the best praise from a friend I'd ever received. We've been through some hard times as of late and through it all we're still best friends. Well he writes me a letter, that's right a letter and not an e-mail, and tells me that he was reading his Bible and got to the verse that always reminds him of me I Samuel 14:6-7 "Jonathan said to the young man who carried his armor, 'Come, let us go over to the garrison of these uncircumcised. It may be that the Lord will work for us, for nothing can hinder the Lord from saving by many or by few.' And his armor-bearer said to him, 'Do all that is in your heart. Do as you wish. Behold I am with you heart and soul.'" Really good compliment right, well I thought so. Of course, I stay true to form and consider all of the ways that I'm not as good of a friend as Charlie thinks I am.

So basically the guy who can't possibly point someone to a verse in Proverbs, can't possibly lead that extremely godly woman, and can't remotely be considered to be that good of a friend is being told by three very close friends that he actually does do these things. The point of all this isn't to brag on how great my friends think I am (because the sin that I'm so quick to point out is still there), but to show that even though we're sinners God is still using us for His glory. It is a good thing to be reminded of sin, but just because we're afraid of being prideful (which does need to be kept in check) doesn't mean that we shouldn't rejoice in the work that God has prepared beforehand (Ephesians 2). Remember that God rejoices in a broken and contrite heart (Psalm 51), but that he will complete what good works He has started. I just find it kind of funny how someone like myself who doesn't really lack in self-confidence when dealing with things of worldly nature has so much trouble accepting the fact that God is working in his life.

This is the truth though, if your a Christian God is working in your life, and He's doing it in a powerful way. We are freed from the bondage of sin, we are Christlike (not perfectly, but we are), are relationship with God is restored, we are children of God, we are heirs with Christ, etc, however, we can't possibly view ourselves as anything but sinners. Since I've been saved, six years ago, I've been purified to a certain extent and God has made me more like Him, more Christlike. This is something to rejoiced in, this is something that should make worshippers out of His followers, but we're too busy condemning ourselves of sins that we've been forgiven for. So remember your sin, but remember that God is accomplishing much more than you think He is. He is a faithful God, He will fulfill His promises. We just need to pray for the faith necessary to believe these things.

The Body of Christ,

If you consider yourself a Christian, then you are a part of the body of Christ, and whatever part of the body of Christ you may be, you are here for the rest of the body. We are here so that the body of Christ might be better; so we need to be making ourselves better by knowing Christ more and pursuing God more heartily. The closer we are to God the better we will be able to dispense my gifts to those who need them. The first thing that should be on our minds when serving is the needs of other, not our own. In fact, I would say that if our needs are on our mind at all, God is not taking delight in our serving. We need to have the attitude that we need to give all that we can give, and I guarantee (because our God is faithful) that when we're done giving all that we can give we'll find that we have be replenished by the Spirit and we'll still have more to give. Be encouraged that someone is thinking of you and praying for you. We need to start loving one another and serving one another and stepping up to the needs of others, not our own.