Jesus Is Our Glory

Glorifying God is our purpose in life and should be the most fervent longing of the heart of the committed Christian who desires to please him. Saying with our lips, ‘Glory to God!’ does not necessarily glorify the Lord.

If God is God and his essence is the fullness of all things, why does he need us to give him glory? How can his children, from our perspective of the holiness we dream of, add glory to the Lord of Glory? Yes, everything that breathes—including us—must give glory to God. The Word is full of proposals and teachings for ordinary people about the many ways of giving glory to God and to his Son Jesus Christ, and of pleasing the Spirit who dwells in you and me, so that God may be glorified in everything.

Glorifying God means focusing on a way of life that flows from within us as an expression of the life of Christ reflected in our actions. It means making the message of the Good News attractive to the world through our testimony. When we abide in Christ and rest in him, the same thing that happened to those shepherds on the first Christmas can happen to us: they were visited by the angels of God, received firsthand the news of the birth of our Savior, and heard them say, ‘Glory to God in the highest; and on earth peace, goodwill toward men.’ God’s goodwill was revealed from on high when he sent Jesus for the salvation and redemption of humanity and so that we might live in peace. That is why Christ is our glory. The shepherds, symbols of the humility and poverty of this world, made the news of the Savior’s birth known everywhere. To this day and until Christ comes, this will remain the best news in history, the most glorious news.

The shepherds of Bethlehem were the first evangelists to glorify and praise God by spreading the good news of the one who had been born in fulfillment of the promise. They left their flocks—their most precious possession—and ran; they ‘went in haste’ to tell the world what had happened. They abandoned their wealth, their livelihood, their humble vocation as shepherds, and ‘ran.’ ‘Has God not chosen the poor of this world to be rich in faith and heirs of the kingdom he has promised?’ (James 2:5).

The angels announced the birth of Christ to some simple, poor shepherds who saw the glory of God. He, who is omniscient and knows the human heart, saw in the humility and simplicity of those shepherds a store of good faith. What would have happened if God had revealed himself to the prominent religious figures of that time? Would they have left their fortunes and run to proclaim the good news of a Savior?

As Christians, we are custodians of the glory of God. We see his glory in the transformed soul of the person who, repentant of his sins, turns his face toward God; we see his glory in the body of Christ that devotes itself to working with God to transform lives in Christ; we see his glory when we cast off evil and offer ourselves to do good, moved by our saving faith. This Christmas, let us be evangelists like the shepherds of Bethlehem. Let us give glory to God like the angels who heralded the Good News. While the world is collapsing, we have the privilege of continuing to build, with the hands of the King of Glory, a better place in which to rest and honor the one who lives forever.

God bless you!