"Salvation is constantly associated with palms, crowns, white robes, thrones, and splendour like the sun and stars... Glory suggests two ideas to me, of which one seems wicked and the other ridiculous. Either glory means to me fame or it means luminosity... But not fame conferred by our fellow creatures - fame with God, approval, or (I might say) "appreciation by God. And then, when I had thought it over, I saw that this view was scriptural; nothing can eliminate from the parable the divine accolade, "Well done, though good and faithful servant."
- C.S. Lewis
After discussing the five groups of promises in Scripture and why there are more promises more than one (that we would be with Christ our savior), Lewis turns to the idea of "glory". I've wrestled with this too, what does "glory" mean and does it mean that for me? It's one thing to give God glory, but what does it mean to have the promise of glory? For the longest time I was stuck in the idea that our "glory" was the promise of heaven, that we would be with Christ in glory (in heaven, wherever his presence is). But Lewis has brought up something that didn't really enter my thinking, that I would earn praise from God for finishing the race, that God could be pleased with ME. Without too much exposition look the Parable of the Bags of Gold and note that the servants who did the right thing with what their master gave them were told "well done... come share in your master's happiness!"
To hear those words from God Almighty, creator or heavens and earth, of all that is seen and unseen would be glory indeed!
Lent is a time to look at things like this. What can I do with my live that would bring me closer to God? What should I eliminate that distracts me from my path OR what could I add to make my path more straight? There is no one magic answer for everything (thank goodness, because while giving up chocolate is easy because I am on the Atkins diet, giving up meat would blow the diet out of the water!) So each of us is called to look at ourselves as God looks at us, as individuals, and ask "What can I do to get closer to You?"
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