It was at least twenty years ago....I have no way of narrowing the year down.....and it was in an everyday conversation at work....where a co-worker was relating something that happened to them....on this I also have no idea what it was....and they made a simple statement where I'm sure no one else would have thought twice....but I cringed....surprising myself....and over the years when I would hear someone else use the same phrase.....I would continue to cringe. All this person said was...."I was in my glory!"
I've listened to a John Piper sermon almost every day for a few years now.....along with other sermons from men from the past....and men today.....he being one.....who preach like men from the past.. There are a couple of areas where John Piper dwells in much of his preaching.....and the glory of God is one of them. Everything is about God's glory.....the glory due our great God.....and God Himself glories in His own glory! I understand this....for the more you see of God's glory.....the more you exalt in it....and take joy in it....and consequently you cringe in glory given to anything or anyone else.
I didn't understand this twenty years ago....but I was reading the Puritans a lot back then....and God's glory came through in all of the preaching and writing of these great divines. So in today's sermon of the day by John Piper....it was once again on God's glory due Him......only this particular sermon resonated with me even more than any other sermons had before. I will try to describe one concept from the sermon.....please forgive me in that my words are greatly inferior. You can listen for yourself by Googling....John Piper....When I Don't Desire God....Part 2.
Here goes....just one aspect.....when anything in our lives takes up a great precedence....something we love so much that we give an exorbitant amount of time to it.....it could be a possession.....automobiles for instance....or a celebrity.....or a talent that we have.....anything.....what we ultimately do.....is give glory to that possession....or celebrity.....or talent. Elvis was and still is known as....The King....not because he was a king....but we gave him the glory of a king....of which I joined in on in my early teens.
Here is my point in this post....if you can accept that premise....you....me....all of us....we have glory to give....it's probably our chief pastime. Unfortunately the result of this is that the glory which is due God....we do not give Him....we give it instead to a creature....or the created.....or even to ourselves.
So yes I cringe when I hear someone make that silly statement....I cringe out of guilt....because although I may not consciously understand it at the time....inwardly I know it describes me....for I was in my glory.....when my mind was on myself....or something I did....or something I associate with....or even something that I am amazed at....when the only One worthy of any glory....and the One worthy of all glory....is robbed.....by me....but a funny thing happened on the way to the forum....the more I want to know of God....the more sermons I listen to....by men of the past....and men today who preach like men of the past.....the more I find myself exalting again and again in His glory....which brings more glory to Him....and if this would ever have an end point....I haven't found it yet.
"And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we have seen his glory, glory as of the only Son from the Father, full of grace and truth." John 1:14
