From the Pastor’s Desk – May 2023

God’s “glory” is how we describe the sum effect of all of his attributes: Grace, truth, goodness, mercy, justice, knowledge, power, eternality—all that he is. Therefore, the glory of God is fundamental, that is, it is as essential to God as light is to the sun, as blue is to the sky, as wet is to water. You don’t make the sun light; it is light. You don’t make water wet; it is wet. In all of these cases, the attribute is intrinsic to the object.

In contrast, man’s glory is granted to him. If you take a king and take off all his robes and crowns and give him only a rag to wear and leave him on the streets for a few weeks, when put next to a beggar you’ll never know which is which. Because there is no intrinsic glory. The only glory a king has is when you give him a crown and a robe and sit him on his throne. He has no intrinsic
glory.

That’s the point. The only glory that men have is granted to them. The glory that is God’s is his in his essence. You can’t de-glory God because glory is his nature. You can’t touch his glory. It cannot be taken away. It cannot be added to. It’s his being.

So, how do we glorify God? Can we glorify God?

I think the best way to answer this question is to return to our Catechism, and take a look at the first three petitions of the Lord’s Prayer:

1)Hallowed be your name,
2)Your will be done,
3)Your Kingdom come, on earth as in heaven.

Both the Evangelical Catechism and Luther’s Small Catechism say basically the same thing as they claim, God’s name is holy, God’s will is done, and God’s kingdom will come with or without our
prayers.

In these petitions we pray that God’s name is hallowed, that God’s kingdom will come, and God’s will is done (and God is glorified) FOR US, IN US, AND THROUGH US as well.

What does this look like?

God’s name is made holy in us whenever God’s word is taught in truth and purity and we live like we believe it.
God’s dominion comes when we are inspired by the Holy Spirit when we believe God’s word and live a Godly life.
God’s will is done when we can resist the temptations of this life and keep firm in the word.

In other words, God is glorified when we realize that God is God and we are not, and we are truly happy about this! How are we doing?

As always, I invite your comments,
Pastor Cory