The glory that comes from God and reflects God is good
Last week we saw that Satan tempted the human nature of Jesus with the offer of glory. I said that humans will do almost anything for glory.
Glory takes many forms. Proverbs 29:21 says, “The glory of young men is their strength,” and that explains why some spend agonizing hours in the gym pumping iron. Strength is glory. But there are other ways of finding glory. The glory of working for a company is to be promoted, to become a department head, vice president, or CEO, because authority is glory.
In various instances, wisdom is glory, riches are glory, talent is glory, education is glory, achievement is glory.
Glory is whatever makes us special, however we excel. The glory of a zebra is its stripes. The glory of a company is its brand. The glory of the sky is its sunset. Even if no one sees our glory, we enjoy it.
Glory is good
We enjoy it because glory is good. It is good because it came from God, whose glory is infinite: “Great is the glory of the Lord” (Psalm 138:5). “From him and through him and to him are all things. To him be glory forever” (Rom. 11:36).
“There are varieties of gifts, but the same Spirit; and there are varieties of service, but the same Lord; and there are varieties of activities, but it is the same God who empowers them all in everyone” (1 Cor. 12:4–6).
“God said, ‘Let us make man in our image, after our likeness’” (Gen. 1:26).
Falling short of God’s glory
In the familiar verse that describes mankind’s brokenness, notice what quality we lack: “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). At creation God infused his glory into mankind and afterward pronounced us “very good,” but sin marred that glory. We fall short of our glorious purpose of reflecting God’s likeness.
Nevertheless God originally created humanity for glory, and that glory is good.