The Passover Connection

Now the Passover, the feast of the Jews, was near. (John 6:4)

I have been looking around to see why this verse was included in this passage. There is always a good reason – and particularly in John – whenever something is put into the text. Generally nothing was written just for filler; there are links all throughout these passages connected to other places either in the passage itself, somewhere else in the book or even further in the rest of the Bible. Following these connections can uncover amazing discoveries, insights and life-transforming realities many times.

I looked up the word Passover and where it was used anytime in the New Testament and found that there are four Passovers mentioned in connection with the life of Jesus. One is mentioned in Luke where it tells the story of when Jesus' parents took Him to His first Passover when He was twelve years old. The other gospels only mention Passover in the context of the last weekend of Jesus' life on earth, but in the book of John there are three Passovers mentioned during the ministry period of Jesus' life.

Interestingly, the first time in John that Passover was mentioned is worded nearly identical to the above verse. The Passover of the Jews was near, and Jesus went up to Jerusalem. (John 2:13) This appears from the context to refer to a series of events that occurred around the time of the first Passover after Jesus went public with His ministry. Some of these events would have occurred roughly around six months after His baptism since the total period of His ministry was 3½ years. Interestingly a very similar experience happened during that first Passover that happened just before His last Passover – a dramatic cleansing of the temple.

As I look at the links between these references to Passover in the book of John, I notice that while the first and last Passover was connected by a temple cleansing, the one mentioned in this chapter is linked to the last Passover by references to making Jesus King of Israel. In this instance Jesus refuses to allow the people to make Him king but in the last occurrence Jesus did allow and even encouraged the people to surround Him with the activities and symbols that accompanied the entrance of a new king.

The introduction that John uses for the last Passover in Jesus' life is also worded very similarly to the previous two. Now the Passover of the Jews was near, and many went up to Jerusalem out of the country before the Passover to purify themselves. (John 11:55)

Now as I continue to look at these three Passover records together, I see something else very interesting. Closely associated with the first story of Passover is the miracle of turning water into wine at a wedding – the first public miracle that was designed to begin drawing people's attention to His ministry.

The second mention of an approaching Passover in John is closely linked to the story here in chapter six of multiplying bread and fish for people to eat. In the very next verse after the mention of Passover, Jesus asks Philip where they might find bread to feed all the people. I find this very significant given the strong context in the book of John where Jesus portrays Himself particularly as the bread of life. Here it appears that Jesus is beginning to draw people's attention to thinking about the true meaning of the Passover and that the only real source of satisfaction is when we look to Jesus Himself as our true source of nourishment and provision.

Closely linked to the last Passover we see Jesus expressing His passionate desire to eat that Passover with His disciples. And He said to them, "I have earnestly desired to eat this Passover with you before I suffer." (Luke 22:15) At this Passover event Jesus brings into the picture both the bread and the wine. That would connect this Passover, at least from my perspective, to both of the previous Passovers mentioned above in some significant ways. Some time before the first Passover He turned plain water into an abundance of wine. Around the time of the second Passover during His time of ministry He multiplies bread for people to eat. During the last Passover He connects all of the dots and tries to make plain what kind of kingdom He has come to set up on this earth.

When I read further in this story in John 6, I notice some striking similarities between expressions describing how He multiplies the food in this story with descriptions of what He did during the last Passover meal with His disciples in the upper room.

Jesus then took the loaves, and having given thanks, He distributed to those who were seated; likewise also of the fish as much as they wanted. (John 6:11)

While they were eating, Jesus took some bread, and after a blessing, He broke it and gave it to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is My body." (Matthew 26:26)

While they were eating, He took some bread, and after a blessing He broke it, and gave it to them, and said, "Take it; this is My body." (Mark 14:22)

And when He had taken some bread and given thanks, He broke it and gave it to them, saying, "This is My body which is given for you; do this in remembrance of Me." And in the same way He took the cup after they had eaten, saying, "This cup which is poured out for you is the new covenant in My blood." (Luke 22:19-20)

For I received from the Lord that which I also delivered to you, that the Lord Jesus in the night in which He was betrayed took bread; and when He had given thanks, He broke it and said, "This is My body, which is for you; do this in remembrance of Me." In the same way He took the cup also after supper, saying, "This cup is the new covenant in My blood; do this, as often as you drink it, in remembrance of Me." (1 Corinthians 11:23-25)

I sense from these verses that there may well be some significant links between the fish and the wine here, but I have not yet explored that more thoroughly. But quite clearly from comparing these stories, the language is so similar in what Jesus does that it would appear that in a sense, the feeding of the multitude in this story was a precursor or foretaste of the communion table that now has so much significance to Christians today.

I see another connection between the last two accounts of the Passover that contain potential insights beyond what I currently perceive. In the story here in John six Jesus sits down with His disciples on the mountain and then later has the disciples speak to everyone else to sit down in preparation for being fed. In the story of the last Passover we again see Jesus sitting down with His disciples. However, this time Jesus gets up and goes around to each of His disciples and washes their feet as an example of the kind of kingdom that He had come to establish.

All throughout these stories it becomes clear that there is an ongoing clash between the assumptions that religious people have about the kingdom of heaven and the true nature of that kingdom as demonstrated and taught by Jesus. God's kingdom is focused on selfless service for others; on the other hand, human desires for power and control over others motivates them to want others to serve them at the expense of diminishing the apparent worth of the people serving them.

It seems that this mistaken notion of the kingdom of heaven is still just as prevalent today as it has ever been. Today's popular scenarios of what might take place when Jesus returns are often replete with ideas of brute power full of control and force. It appears that many believe that though Jesus demonstrated a life of humility and meekness when He was here on earth the first time, for some reason He is going to change His tactics and employ force and intimidation and fear to get His way the second time He comes to this earth. This fits well with the 'angry lamb' perception that shows up in those who are finally lost. (see Revelation 6:16,17)

Whether people believe in a literal return of Jesus to take His loved ones home with Him for a thousand years as taught by Scripture, or whether they believe ideas of a rapture, a time of tribulation and other such doctrines designed for the counter-reformation and initiated by the Catholic Jesuits, all of these predictions seem to be filled with assumptions that Jesus will abandon His original methods in favor of adopting methods and attitudes closer to what we prefer to see happen. They assume that the descriptions of power and great glory that will be experienced at the second coming mean that God has given up on His original demonstrations of love and meekness and compassion and will resort to force and anger to finish the job He started.

But these beliefs obscure the true nature of God's real power. They actually reinforce the lies of the enemy who asserts that love is not enough to overcome the force and malignity of sin or to produce obedience. But far from being inadequate to meet the challenge, God's love is actually the only element in the universe capable of drawing us and finishing the job of vindicating the reputation of God through the testimony and lives of those who are saved. The problem is not that love is inadequate but that we do not appreciate the subtleness of the real power in love.

We think too much like sinners have been induced to think all through the history of this world. It is very easy to believe that while it might be nice to demonstrate meekness and compassion and kindness for awhile, at some point that tactic has to be abandoned for stronger measures to intimidate people through more forceful means to accept the truth. But these ideas destroy the very essence of what Jesus came to reveal about the Father. The introduction of force, fear and coercion undermines the very foundation of the government that Jesus came to set up in the hearts of all who would embrace His provisions and submit to His authority.

Just as most people have mistaken ideas about what took place at the very first Passover in Egypt, so too they have confused ideas about what took place at the last Passover when Jesus fulfilled all the symbolic representations woven throughout the whole Old Testament system of feasts and rituals. Far from resorting to force and intimidation, God's methods are designed to reveal that His original way of doing things and of governing the universe is perfectly adequate to meet any crisis or opposition or counterfeit. As we have an open mind to allow the Word to speak for itself, we shall begin to see the incredible beauty and attractiveness of God instead of inventing scenarios based on our own twisted desires.

When God Asks Questions

Therefore Jesus, lifting up His eyes and seeing that a large crowd was coming to Him, said to Philip, "Where are we to buy bread, so that these may eat?" This He was saying to test him, for He Himself knew what He was intending to do. (John 6:5-6)

I have noticed something about the way that Jesus related to people that is different than leaders usually relate to people today. Jesus used the technique of questions to make a point rather than simply spelling out plainly what He wanted to convey. This has the effect of engaging others and causing them to stop and challenge their assumptions or at least to begin using their own minds and hearts more than they typically are used to doing.

This reminds me of the special benefits I have observed whenever people discover the wonderful advantages of inductive Bible study. Instead of being spoon-fed with pre-thought-out conclusions that have been broken down into what are termed 'Bible studies', a person is taught to use a simple format of study that requires them to think for themselves as well as learn to listen to the Spirit of God in ways they likely have never experienced before.

This method of Bible study can many times be viewed as a threat by mainstream religion because it undermines the control that religious institutions have over the minds of their millions of followers. It tends to put people much more directly in touch with God personally and stimulates thinking outside the normal boundaries laid down by tradition and church dogma. Because it seems to cause disunity it is often viewed with great suspicion by leadership. But the unity that they are usually trying to maintain is really more along the lines of uniformity through rigid control by human authority rather than the unity of spirit that will be seen among the true followers of Jesus Christ.

As with pretty much everything in God's kingdom, questioning can be extremely beneficial but it also has its counterfeit in Satan's schemes to lead us into deception. The key factor between true devotion in spiritual life and counterfeit ideas that appear very religious and pious is the state of a person's spirit in their personal relationship with God. In this second instance, questions are used to reinforce doubt and produce unbelief instead of to uncover exciting truths and fresh revelations of God that will increase faith and deepen a person's connection with heaven.

Jesus' questions very often were designed to stimulate people to begin to use their own minds and lead them to realize the dissonance between their intellectual beliefs and their heart beliefs many times. Here in this instance Jesus started out with the assumptions that most of us would start with even though the writer clearly states that Jesus already knew what He planned to do. He started where His disciples would likely be thinking in order to engage them with Him so that when He did reveal heaven's perspective and plans they could be part of what He was doing instead of just outside observers.

I noticed something about this question that Jesus posed to Philip that I find interesting. Jesus asked Philip where they might find food to feed all of these people who were coming to hear Jesus, but Philip in his answer gravitated to thinking about how much it would cost to feed them all, not where to find the food.

I find this difference significant. How often we become so stuck in a certain mode of thinking that we miss the simple questions that God may pose for us to ponder and instead rush to dwell on what we consider the greatness of our difficulties.

Did Jesus intend for Philip to become overwhelmed with the difficulty of the situation that was developing in front of them? I'm not sure about that. But I do believe that it may be important at times for us to be aware of the enormity and impossibility of our circumstances before we are able to appreciate God's provisions and His love and grace in providing for us. When we think that our problems can be solved by ourselves with a little assistance from God, it is very easy for us to think that we have contributed something of value to His solutions in ways that deceive us as to how God has provided our salvation.

But when God allows us to come into situations where it finally becomes obvious that our resources are totally inadequate to deal with our problems, we may find ourselves moving into the interesting emotion of hopeless despair which may be just where God wants us to be. We may be stepping into the very incubator of faith itself.

Hopeless despair is one of the big six emotions that have been identified as emotions that need to be experienced as part of our maturing process. But this particular emotion is one that many people are very afraid to experience because inside they are sure they may become stuck there and might never be able to return. Or they may think that hopeless despair may somehow dishonor God or make them look like inferior Christians with no faith, so that emotion must be avoided at all costs.

But in reality, to grow into a healthy maturity each person must at some point in their lives learn to return to a state of joy and peace from every one of these six major emotions that all of us have to face from time to time. When we fail to learn how to emotionally recover from any one of them we become almost paranoid of even getting close to those emotions because we may get stuck in them and not know how to ever escape. We also remain stuck in levels of immaturity that dishonors our heavenly Parent.

God does not want to leave us in immaturity for all of our lives. It is one thing to be immature because we have not yet had time to grow up enough, to have a chance to learn recovery from all of these emotions. But it is another thing to become stunted because we refuse to cooperate with God's leading in our life and to be mentored into greater maturity through various circumstances designed to challenge us. Hopeless despair is one of those emotions that is often the last that people are willing to face and learn to grow through instead of running away from each time.

When properly understood, hopeless despair is actually one of the most exciting emotions that we might ever face in our lives. I know this may sound absurd at first, but when we are facing situations that push us toward this intimidating emotion, we are actually getting very close to the front seat where we may be positioned strategically to view some of the most awesome revelations of God's power and glory that can be seen anywhere. But the best view can only be experienced when we allow ourselves to be seated in the front row of hopeless despair.

In essence, Jesus was inviting Philip here to take a seat on the front row and sit down with Him in hopeless despair to enjoy the best vantage point in the theater. Jesus already had learned the wonderful benefits of this seat and had developed His own maturity through obedience throughout His growing up years. Now He was engaged in the process of mentoring His disciples by introducing to them the skills and lessons needed to grow them into greater maturity. At this point it was time to learn how to trust God whenever circumstances appear totally impossible, and so He engaged Philip with this question to give him the first option of participating with Him in learning how God does things as opposed to how humans usually do things.

Testimonies and Glory

I went back this morning and reread the last half of the passage I have been contemplating for several months now to better see how it all fits together and look for more clues. There is still so much I am overlooking and I am loathe to move on before flushing out a few more life-changing principles or truths that can apply to my life.

Lately I have been thinking about this word glory and how much I have misunderstood what it really means most of my life. I am still trying to better grasp its true meaning and significance more clearly. Some of the things I see this morning are helping me to better understand this concept and how it is embedded into all the other facets of this passage as well as how it affects our lives. I see more patterns and connections that help to explain each other after carefully analyzing many of them individually.

There are several key words that seem very tightly linked to each other from this perspective. In John 5:44 Jesus says we receive glory from one another but do not seek the glory that comes from God. Immediately previous to that He just said that He Himself had not been received. So glory must be very closely associated with receiving Jesus personally.

As I look at the bigger picture in this passage it looks to me like the purpose of all the testimonies mentioned here is to attract people to seek this glory, to believe in both God and in Jesus based on the evidence presented in all these testimonies. To believe implies that there is something specific to believe as well as the existence of something that is contradicting those testimonies. There is little need of a testimony unless there is something or someone challenging the truth to start with. But clearly, Jesus is coming from the context in this passage of confronting a mass of disinformation about God and He is delineating a number of reliable sources that offer supporting testimonies about what is really true about God.

Once testimonies have been heard, the choice is unavoidable that those hearing the testimonies must make a decision as to what and who they will believe. Our problem, just as it was with these Jews, is that our immersion in religion has led us to believe that we already have the truth and anything that contradicts what we already believe must be false. Since Jesus' teachings and relationships with sinners flew in the face of common belief about how God was thought to feel about sinners and religious people, the Jews of His day found it very difficult to reconcile the life and disposition of Jesus with their deeply entrenched ideas about what God was like. And we are no different today.

When Jesus said that His works themselves were a testimony that the Father had sent Him, He was in essence saying that the way He related to people in His actions and disposition was an accurate reflection of how the Father related to them as well. Many today find an enormous tension between what they believe is the stern, harsh God of the Old Testament with the kind, humble, compassionate Jesus seen in the New Testament. Some even go to the point of overlooking the vast evidence of kindness revealed in the life of Jesus and almost exclusively focus on what they think they see in the few times that He confronted the Pharisees and leaders, like during the cleansing of the temple. They seek to project their assumptions about an angry God into such events in Jesus' life and read into some stories things that are not necessarily there.

What does it mean to seek the glory that is from the one and only God? From what I can see in this context it means several things.

In verse 43 it means to receive Jesus.

In verse 40 it means to come to Jesus that we may have life.

In verses 38-39 it means not mistaking a thorough knowledge of Scriptures as a substitute for knowing personally the Christ that is talked about all through those writings. It implies that the Scriptures need to do more than just fill our left brains. It means that the very word of God must reside in our hearts in order to bring into our lives the things that we learn and read about in Scripture.

In verse 36 it means making the life of Christ the first and foremost filter through which anything and everything else we hear or read about, the criteria which we use to perceive what God is really like. This includes the testimonies of the prophets along with all the history of God's dealings with His people as recorded for our benefit.

Verse 24 seems to sum it all up. To seek and receive the glory that only comes from God, we must hear the word of Jesus, believe the real truth about the Father who sent Him and thus enter into eternal life. By doing so we do not come into judgment but pass from death into life.

Failure to do this results in internal feelings of condemnation and accusation. When Jesus said that He would not be the one accusing these Jews before the Father in verse 45, He was implying that they were going to feel accused because of their unwillingness to believe the real truth about God and receive His glory in all the above ways mentioned. They claimed to believe the Scriptures, they claimed to follow the instructions of Moses their hero, but in reality they had such skewed pictures of God that in reality they didn't really perceive the underlying truths in his writings and the spirit that filled the life of Moses.

What they did not realize was the inevitable conflict that they would encounter when true judgment exposed their faulty views of God. Externally following the letter of Moses' laws had done little to transform their hearts. Their harsh, dark views of God prevented them from perceiving the true picture of God that Moses experienced in his own relationship with God. Because of this, when the real truth about God's love and compassion and mercy and the real truth about His justice and the way He really feels about sinners became evident to them in the life and teachings of Jesus, they felt that it was Jesus who was the one in the wrong instead of them. They felt that Jesus' ideas about what God was like were heresy and dangerous and even blasphemy.

The same is always true. When we cling to our dark views of God as either a stern judge or a wimpy, wishy-washy fickle Father who indulges us in any way we want and allows us to live apart from His principles without consequences, either of these belief systems will bring us face to face with feelings of condemnation when the real truth about God's mercy and justice come into view. We may think that we are being unjustly accused, that God is unfair with us, that we have been mistreated. But all of these beliefs are simply more evidence that we have been unwilling to seek the real truth, the authentic glory that only comes from an intimate knowledge of the one and only source of real life, the God who sent His Son, not to condemn the world but to save it by revealing the truth about what God is really like.

Far too often we think that salvation is all about making us good enough to go to heaven. Our notions of religion revolve around behavior and external issues of right and wrong and about rules and infractions of laws. But the real issue in this controversy we are caught up in between Christ and Satan is not about whether sinners can get to heaven or not, but is totally about what each of us are going to believe about what God is like. God has been lied about, slandered, maligned and misrepresented to the max. The judgment is all about vindicating God's reputation, not about determining how good or bad we might be. Humanity is only participating in this judgment as witnesses, not the ones who are on trial. Understanding this is vital to appreciating how we fit into this picture. Otherwise we come up with weird notions of what is going on and all sorts of crazy religions and cults develop as a consequence.

The core issue in this trial is the glory of God. His character has been seriously called into question by the greatest prosecutor ever to exist. God has chosen to never seek to vindicate Himself, for to do so would be to violate the very principles He instituted in justice. When someone seeks to justify themselves, to vindicate themselves before others, they immediately come under suspicion and their testimony is doubted because it appears that their self-vindication is evidence of selfishness and self-protection in their heart. It is assumed that anyone who tries to vindicate themselves is likely trying to cover up the real truth by masking all evidence that might indict or incriminate them.

So for someone to be properly vindicated they have to have outside testimony to corroborate their innocence. That is why Jesus stated in verse 31 that if He alone testified about Himself that His testimony would not be true (or valid). Does this mean that in so doing He would be lying about Himself? Not really. It just explains the principle that vindication can only happen through the testimonies of outside witnesses.

All of us are called to testify in God's trial. We will either be exposed as false witnesses or we will bear truthful testimonies about God's claims as to His real character and how He has dealt with us in our own lives.

In verse 42 Jesus makes a very important statement about witnesses. If the witness does not have the love of God in them, then they are not reflecting the real truth about the very essence of who God is. As such they will be exposed as false witnesses because the testimony they give about what God is like is something other than love. God is love. If my life or beliefs contradict that fundamental fact, then to that extent I am still bearing false witness against God.

A false witness feels defensive because their testimony is in conflict with what God says about Himself and what all the other truthful witnesses say about Him. In that position that witness starts to feel accused and condemned. They feel like it is God condemning them because their testimony disagrees with His. But in reality it is their own heart that is condemning them and that very condemnation becomes the fuel that will torture them in the end when truth is finally and fully revealed in the final Judgment.

The glory of God is in essence the identity of God, the truth about His character and His dealings with all His created beings. So to seek the glory that comes from God is to seek the truth about Him and as a result to come to reflect that truth in our own lives. The way I come to reflect His character is to let go of all my resistance to His love and to believe what He and all truthful witnesses are saying about Him. As I do that my life will become more and more free of condemnation and feelings of guilt as I become more aligned with His character and as His presence within me transforms me more and more into His image.

Glory to Believe

How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God? (John 5:44)

Evidently, part of entering into real belief involves seeking glory that is from God. What does that really mean?

Again, the very first thing I am confronted with is to properly understand the words that are being used, at least enough to begin to make sense of what Jesus is really trying to convey here. The word that jumps out at me, begging for definition is the word 'glory'. I have spent time in the past exploring and trying to unpack this word before and here I am again trying to remember what I discovered last time.

I just went back and read my recent post on glory to refresh my memory of what I uncovered. That was very helpful as I now want to take this one step further and see how that relates to this most important issue of personal belief. Because I want to do much more than simply grow in intellectual understanding of these things; I want to really experience them personally, I want to see how I can enter into much deeper levels of true belief in Jesus and His Father through seeking the kind of glory that can only be found there.

As I began to explore last time, glory seems to describe something like a fuel that increases our sense of worth and causes us to become more alive. It is the kind of input that makes us thrive and feel more fulfilled and whole. Because of this, it is vitally important that we learn to seek the only pure Source of this fuel and learn to turn away from the many competing sources that sometimes seem to offer quicker results but only end in greater emptiness.

As I am seeing it more clearly now, glory has to do with worth, with value and with describing the attributes that make up a person's identity and character. Glory can be affirmation and praise, particularly when it is focused on God. Because we are created in God's image we are designed to reflect His glory. That means that we will only ever find real fulfillment, fullness of joy and wholeness as we come closer and closer to perfectly reflecting the character of God and His Son Jesus Christ.

Of course, that will result in our lives reflecting the very essence of who God is, which is love itself. Love is unselfish and other-focused. Love lives to serve others more than ourselves. Love is described in detail in 1 Corinthians 13 and is a description of what God is like. The expression and essence of love is one and the same as the essence of God's glory.

Sin is in denial that God is love in its purest and most complete form. Satan, the author of sin, claims that God is inherently selfish behind all His claims to the contrary. Satan has caused all of us to believe that God is looking out for Himself ahead of us and that He is willing to resort to force, intimidation, threats and even torture to get His way when necessary. Because of this our ideas about glory have become very confused and we fail to realize how much we need the real glory of God in our lives.

From this perspective I can now see that to seek the glory that comes from the one and only God is to choose to go to the only real source of love to find our identity, our true worth, and fulfillment for what our hearts were designed to thrive on. God created us to live off of Him, to rely totally on Him for value and purpose and to thrive in the joy of His presence. All of this is to be completely free of any taint of selfishness, for selfishness is the very essence of sin which is independence from God.

But we are born into sin. We inherited selfishness from our parents and have reinforced it through years of training and indulgence. We live in a world that offers to supply us with all sorts of alternate glory sources suited to fit any fancy we may have to feel good. We lust for all sorts of things and activities that will make us feel more alive or to have more power. Many think that having more power over others will make them more important and then experience the glory that they crave. Others seek sensory pleasure in attempts to feel more alive, often at the expense of others. But all of these counterfeit attempts to thrive and enhance life fall short of the real glory of God.

I am starting to see more clearly that sin is the compulsion to seek value, worth, identity and fulfillment from any source other than the only true Source. What we are really looking for is glory, the very thing we were designed to have all along. But when we turn away from the only true Source of glory to any other sources we find that our cravings have been perverted into lusts that end up consuming and destroying us instead of enriching and inspiring us to reflect God's glory of love.

I am now seeing more clearly the real meaning of Romans 3:23. All have sinned and have fallen short of God's glory, for the glory of God is the power of love – pure, unselfish love that is the opposite of what Satan has led all humanity to believe about Him. To seek glory from God is not only to seek our sense of identity from Him, to experience His love and resulting power to transform our lives, but in seeking this glory from God we will unavoidably reflect that glory back to Him which will turn us into authentic and truthful witnesses as to the actual truth about God's character of selfless love.

Jesus came to reveal the glory of God to humanity by demonstrating the totally selfless, serving attitude of the one and only true God. Satan has done everything he can think of to distort our perceptions of that demonstration and to cause us to believe all sorts of lies about why Jesus came to this earth. The Jews of Jesus' day had similar confusion about what God is like just as we do and Jesus was addressing that confusion in this passage. He was pointing out how dangerous it is to seek glory from others while failing to seek glory from the only real Source of glory, the One who created us for His glory.

In all of this it is also starting to clarify in my mind how seeking glory from the right source is linked to saving belief. I must embrace some level of belief that what Jesus said and demonstrated about the love of His Father for me is true and reliable if I am to choose to go to God as my sole source of glory, of identity, and to discover my real worth as a child of the King. But this must be much, much more than just an intellectual exercise or a doctrinal claim. For love, if it is not experienced at the heart level becomes nothing more than an empty sham denying the reality of what it claims to believe.

What I choose to believe about how God feels about me will largely determine whether I am willing to come to Him and seek glory from Him. Reciprocally, as I fail to seek my identity and worth from Him and experience His life-changing, unearned, undeserved love for me personally, I will not be motivated to come to Him to seek the only kind of authentic glory that can fuel my recovery and restoration from the enormous damage that sin has wreaked in my soul. But if I focus on His glory and dwell on His love and the real truth about His character, then my life can be filled with His glory and light and love.

How can you believe, when you receive glory from one another and you do not seek the glory that is from the one and only God?

Father, give me this real glory that I so desperately need and crave. Make me a reflection of Your glory, Your love, Your character, Your selfless passion to serve and bless others. Do this for Your glory.