Every once in a while as I'm praying for the Lord to provide help for something going on in my life, I can feel a twinge of selfishness and doubt. Perhaps my prayers of late have only been to ask God to give me something. Perhaps the thing I'm asking for is selfish. Besides, I don't deserve God's favor, so how dare I even ask for Him to give His favor to me - especially after He's already given me more than I deserve?
Recently during my morning quiet time, I came across Psalm 31:3 (NET):
For you are my high ridge and my stronghold;
for the sake of your own reputation you lead me and guide me.
King David, who wrote this psalm, credits God for being his stronghold, and then acknowledges that God had provided him with the same kind of help that I feel selfish asking for (in this case, guidance). But this guidance was given "for the sake of your own reputation." For God's "reputation," the glory of His name among the nations. In other words, the help God provided was for David's benefit, but ultimately it was for His own glory.
This gives us helpful, simple advice on how to ask God for His help. Consider praying this way: "Lord, help us, but only if it glorifies You."
Ask for God's help in areas that are good and within His permissive will. Pray for God to help not only "me", but "us" - for the benefit of others besides yourself, too. But whatever help you are asking for, ask only if the answer would truly glorify God. Submit your desire for getting what you want to God's glory. Refuse answers to your request that do not glorify Him. Ask God to use the answer to your prayer as a means to glorify Himself or else deny the request entirely.
Keeping this in mind has helped me to pray for help more humbly. It has also caused me to not pray for some things that I might have otherwise. And it has lifted my prayers beyond my own self-concern to the things that concern God.
Showing posts with label glory. Show all posts
Showing posts with label glory. Show all posts
Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
The Gospel from 35,000 Feet
The most common way that we look at the Gospel is from the ground up. Man is a sinner, sinners are unfit for the presence of God, Jesus came to earth to pay for our sin, and we can have his eternal righteousness and fellowship by faith. It's not a bad way to look at the Gospel - it's clear, accurate, and something we easily identify with. But ... I was wondering today what the Gospel looks like from the top-down. There are many ways to answer that, but one way that struck me as curious centers on the idea of the image of God.
In the beginning, God created man (man and woman, but "man" to refer to the whole lot of us). God had created many other things already - angels, stars, planets, plants, and critters. But He created man to be different that the rest. He created man in the image of God (Gen 1:27). Man is the "image bearer" - he uniquely has this thing called "God's image" imprinted on his being. That image is a reflection of God's glory.
Then, man sinned. Adam and Eve disobeyed God's design and God's clear word. When this occurred, that image of God was not lost, but it was "vandalized." We still bear God's image, but that image in us has been severely distorted, mangled, and disfigured. It can become so distorted that it becomes very difficult to recognize that image at all in someone. This, of course, is grievous to God - not only for our loss, but also for what has happened to a reflection of His own glory! He had image bearers that reflected His great glory, but now after the vandalization, instead of a glorious reflection, it is a tarnished, blasphemous semblance of His glory.
The Old Testament teaches us the futility of man trying to restore that image on his own. How can an inglorious reflection repair itself? It's not possible.
Then Jesus came. Jesus was unique in that first, He bore the image of God perfectly. That's something no one had done since Adam and Eve before the Fall. Second, He is the God whose image we bear! He's both fully God (the glorious One) and fully man (the perfect image bearer). He alone bore the image perfectly on behalf of the entire human race.
When He died on the cross and rose again on the third day, he defeated sin and death - the very things that marred the image of God in man. In other words, the mission of Jesus was to restore the image of God in us. That image can be perfected in us. It begins with salvation (putting our faith in Christ). It continues through sanctification (the process of becoming more like Christ). It is complete in glorification (when Jesus returns and completes the image of God in us).
The Gospel from 35,000 feet is that Jesus came to make us perfect image bearers again, fully glorifying God as we were intended. We can become perfect image bearers only by faith in Jesus Christ, the glorious One and perfect image bearer.
Scripture shows the Gospel from 35,000 feet in a couple of places:
Romans 8:29: Those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.
1 John 3:2: Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is.
Perhaps this can be a fresh way for you to share the Gospel with others who do not respond to the Gospel from the ground up.
In the beginning, God created man (man and woman, but "man" to refer to the whole lot of us). God had created many other things already - angels, stars, planets, plants, and critters. But He created man to be different that the rest. He created man in the image of God (Gen 1:27). Man is the "image bearer" - he uniquely has this thing called "God's image" imprinted on his being. That image is a reflection of God's glory.
Then, man sinned. Adam and Eve disobeyed God's design and God's clear word. When this occurred, that image of God was not lost, but it was "vandalized." We still bear God's image, but that image in us has been severely distorted, mangled, and disfigured. It can become so distorted that it becomes very difficult to recognize that image at all in someone. This, of course, is grievous to God - not only for our loss, but also for what has happened to a reflection of His own glory! He had image bearers that reflected His great glory, but now after the vandalization, instead of a glorious reflection, it is a tarnished, blasphemous semblance of His glory.
The Old Testament teaches us the futility of man trying to restore that image on his own. How can an inglorious reflection repair itself? It's not possible.
Then Jesus came. Jesus was unique in that first, He bore the image of God perfectly. That's something no one had done since Adam and Eve before the Fall. Second, He is the God whose image we bear! He's both fully God (the glorious One) and fully man (the perfect image bearer). He alone bore the image perfectly on behalf of the entire human race.
When He died on the cross and rose again on the third day, he defeated sin and death - the very things that marred the image of God in man. In other words, the mission of Jesus was to restore the image of God in us. That image can be perfected in us. It begins with salvation (putting our faith in Christ). It continues through sanctification (the process of becoming more like Christ). It is complete in glorification (when Jesus returns and completes the image of God in us).
The Gospel from 35,000 feet is that Jesus came to make us perfect image bearers again, fully glorifying God as we were intended. We can become perfect image bearers only by faith in Jesus Christ, the glorious One and perfect image bearer.
Scripture shows the Gospel from 35,000 feet in a couple of places:
Romans 8:29: Those whom he foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.
1 John 3:2: Dear friends, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet been revealed. We know that whenever it is revealed we will be like him, because we will see him just as he is.
Perhaps this can be a fresh way for you to share the Gospel with others who do not respond to the Gospel from the ground up.
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