glory

Glory to God. What does it mean when we say this. What is glory? I would be ignorant if I assumed that there was a simple Webster's dictionary definition of this word. It's something that our English language really can't hold. I could go to the Greek and find that it means "doxa" and look at all of the definitions for that, but still there is something. The most fitting definition I can give to glory is that it is something indescribably perfect, something that reaches down to my spirit and satisfies a part of me that I don't even understand. There is something about that word "glory." I liken it to a prism, which seems so simple at first glance but when light it shed on it it is an array of splendor.
This all came up as I was reading John 17:22-23, which is Jesus' prayer to God right before His arrest: "And the glory which You gave me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me."
At the point I read this my spirit immediately jumped. The phrase "the glory which You gave me I have given them" sparked something. All of a sudden my spirit took hold of my imagination as I meditated on the implications of this verse. "That they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me."
The very glory, the very substance that God gave to Jesus to make them one and to enable Jesus to walk the life He walked was given to us. So now we have a glory that will make us one with each other and one with Christ, a glory that will transform our lives, causing us to be conformed to His likeness. This is a glory that affects our lives so much that the world recognizes and acknowledges that we are loved by God.
This is a glory where we are totally transparent. The moment we try to take credit for anything, we are substituting our glory for Christ's glory. It is when we allow ourselves to be vessels that the riches of His glory and in turn He is glorified. That is why it matters what happens in our lives. It matters what we feed ourselves with. It matters what we let stay in our lives. May it be nothing that makes little of the glory of God in our lives.
I could keep going for hours, but read Romans 9:23, Philipians 3:21, and Philipians 4:19!

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grace and peace