The Glory of God

But when Jesus heard it He said, "This illness does not lead to death. It is for the glory of God, so that the Son of God may be glorified through it." --John 11.4

Do you have a lame spiritual life? Are you lukewarm? Do you feel like your love for Jesus is getting weak? Maybe its because you don't see God's glory.

In John 11, Jesus raises His friend Lazarus from the dead. Jesus, at the very beginning of the story, tells His disciples that the reason Lazarus is sick (and will die) is so that the glory of God can be seen. God allows a horrible event to happen so that Jesus can be glorified (v. 4).

God allows all kinds of circumstances to come into our lives--good and bad, exciting and mundane, new and routine--all so that Jesus can be glorified.

But we often miss it.

We miss God's glory.

Like Martha in John 11 (read the chapter and watch Martha and Jesus' conversation), we take our eyes off God and we stop believing in God. Yes, we know God exists. Yes, we believe He can do anything. Yes, we know He works out all things for good. But we stop believing Him. We look at our problems and our trials. We forget that this world serves to bring God glory (and not immediate comfort and pleasure to us). We miss what God is doing, because we aren't living to bring Him glory.

When we don't see God doing amazing things around us, our walk with Jesus can get boring and lame pretty quick. The problem isn't with God (He is always living for His glory), the problem is with us (we aren't always living for His glory).

So, for February, I'll post ten ideas on how to see God's glory in 2010.

Jesus said to her, "Did I not tell you that if you believed you would see the glory of God?" --John 11.40