Psalm 97:6 NLT
The heavens
proclaim his righteousness; every nation sees his glory.
I love
the lights. The Christmas lights that are
put up during this season and glow during the evening and night hours. I guess you could say that what Clark Griswold
put up in the movie Christmas Vacation is something that I would like to see. There are places I remember from my childhood
in Tulsa, Oklahoma that I drive back to when I am home during this time of the
year.
Rhema
is a Bible College in my hometown with amazing lights. There are some neighborhoods that are
spectacular. Near Julie’s hometown there
is place called Guido Gardens, built by a friend and evangelist Michael Guido
that died a few years ago. That place is
amazing with thousands of lights.
During
my childhood our church put on a living nativity that recounted the life of
Jesus from the announcement of His birth to the resurrection. A few thousand people would come see it every
Christmas. It was incredible and could
take my breathe away as I experienced over and over.
The
beauty of God’s creation as well as what God does in the lives of people also
takes my breathe away. Seeing God’s
glory is something that no one can turn away from when it’s almost too much to
handle.
It may
not be the same, but when you watch a child take in all the Christmas lights
for the first time, you see some of the same expressions and feel some of the
same emotions as when you see God’s glory.
It really is amazing.
1 Peter 4:13 NLT
Instead, be
very glad—for these trials make you partners with Christ in his suffering, so
that you will have the wonderful joy of seeing
his glory when it is revealed to
all the world.
The
tough situations in our lives cause us to look again. We might look again at why we are
struggling. We may even ask if God is
punishing us. Yet God desires for His
glory to be seen. God will show up when
we are looking for Him. And His glory is
overwhelming.
So all of us
who have had that veil removed can see
and reflect the glory of the
Lord. And the Lord—who is the
Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious
image.
The
reason we see God and His glory is because He wants us to see and chose for us
to see it, His glory and greatness. On
top of that we begin to see His work and His glory in our lives. Don’t let this go to your head or make you
think that you are as great as God.
God
loves people. He loves you and me, and
the biggest parts of His glory are seen in the lives of the people He
loves. Yes, the mountains and the ocean as
well as the sky declare and even scream His glory. But people are His glory on a daily basis.
John 1:14 NLT
So the Word
became human and made his home among us.
He was full of unfailing love and faithfulness. And we have seen his glory, the
glory of the Father’s one and
only Son.
Praise
God for His glory. I long to see
it. Christmas reminds me that we can see
His glory every day. Let’s look for it
even more. His glory, like the lights of
Christmas, are amazing!
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