Glory!

Daily Reading: Colossians 1

Scripture Focus:  …Christ in you, the hope of glory. (Colossians 1.27)

Devotional Thought: In the book of Exodus, Moses prayed to see God's glory.  God gave him a vision of his glory and then he gave even more glory:

• After Moses spent time with God in the Tent of Meeting, the glory of God remained as a glow upon Moses’ face.

• God filled the Tabernacle with his glory in response to the obedience of the Israelites. 

• God guided the wandering nation with his glory upon paths they had not yet travelled.

We pray for the glory of God upon our lives and our churches.  We desire that God would give our pastors and leaders his glory so that they might lead us aright.  We long for a relationship with God that is filled with the glory of his love and holiness.  How can we hope to receive such glory?  Paul told the Colossians the way: Christ in us.

The glory of the world is a glory that is all about our acclaim, our achievements, our victories.  It is a glory that is fleeting. The glory of the athlete wanes with his or her aging body.  The glory of the politician fades as he or she moves out of office.  But the glory of Christ lasts forever!  Though we may not feel it, it is always there as long as he is there.  The glory of Christ in you gives you peace in the storms of life, light as you traverse this present darkness, strength for the battle with sin, love in the conflicts, purity in the moral morass of this age.  It is a glory that never fades, for it is kept in heaven for you (1 Peter 1.4).

Enjoy the glory today, the glory of Christ in you!

Prayer: Lord, I pray that you would show me your glory.  But I also pray that your glory would abide with me as Christ abides in me.  Help me to recognize and rejoice in Christ, my hope of glory!  Amen.

Psalm of the Day: Psalm 22.20-24

20 Deliver my soul from the sword, my precious life from the power of the dog!

21 Save me from the mouth of the lion! You have rescued me from the horns of the wild oxen!

22 I will tell of your name to my brothers; in the midst of the congregation I will praise you:

23 You who fear the LORD, praise him! All you offspring of Jacob, glorify him, and stand in awe of him, all you offspring of Israel!

24 For he has not despised or abhorred the affliction of the afflicted, and he has not hidden his face from him, but has heard, when he cried to him.