Glory

2 Corinthians 3:18, "But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit."

My mother mentioned a teaching she heard from Paul Manwring on the Glory of God. Excited she offered me a CD of the message, but I don't really have any way to play a CD in an era of MP3's and iPods. I searched online for a podcast of the message, but to no avail. I did find his book What on Earth is Glory? available through amazon, but haven't purchased it. But her enthusiasm about it got me thinking. Perhaps thinking not in the direction my mother is thinking, but thinking none the less.

I was thinking that if we "are being transformed into the same image (Christ) from glory to glory." That the time between the glories really sux. I guess Paul in so many words was saying that the space between one glory to the other is the period of transformation. And as we all know, transformation is most often accompanied with some sort of discomfort. A discomfort we have come to know as PAIN! But what is glory?

Paul Manwaring apparently has a great teaching which I have not heard, so I rely on the Holy Spirit for explanation. We know that glory can be a form of praise that we can "give" to God. We know Moses asked to see it, so it is something more than words of adoration. The saved receive a crown of glory. And we know that to the "degree that you share the sufferings of Christ... so that at the revelation of His glory you may rejoice..." So without going into a gigantic theological study... glory, at least the glory of God, is a tangible manifestation of God's accomplishments, His power, His successes. It is not only His trophy if you will, but it is a living trophy that when man observes, he sees the experiences associated with the glory. I see it as a train, a giant, ever growing, radiant cape or robe that when in view, it will draw the viewer into the majesty of the accomplishments of God.

Isaiah 6:1, "In the year of King Uzziah's death I saw the Lord sitting on a throne, lofty and exalted, with the train of His robe filling the temple." The train of His robe is how I define glory.

So we walk out our Christianity, or work it out as Paul wrote to the Philippians, bringing to bear the cross of Christ onto our ego. It is painful. (or is it... more on that later) The cross bears down and when that little piece of transformation is complete, we look back and see a revelation of Christ. We see the proverbial train of His robe and the accomplishment it represents.

And what of this pain? What of the suffering to the degree of the revelation of His glory? This much I know... the pain seems a whole lot worse when you are between glories than it does retrospectively standing in the glory. And in fact, the pain of your experience is not painful to me at all. So does that mean the experience is not the source of the pain? Yep... that is what it means. Perhaps we can explore pain on another day.

But the glory of God is real. It is like light which is both energy and particle. Hard to understand, but the glory of God is a tangible manifestation of His accomplishments and when it is visible, no other accomplishments compare.