"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 by the Spirit of the Lord.
2 Corinthians 3:18 (NKJV)
In a healthy family, a newborn infant brings great joy to his parents. A nurse in the hospital handing our newborn son to us for the first time said, “Here is your little bundle of joy”.
A baby is fully enjoyed by his parents before he is mature, productive, or has achieved anything. The family dotes on a newborn because of the sheer joy they bring. Even though the child is a huge inconvenience, consumes without producing, and is a constant drain on resources, the parents consider him a gift.
The happy couple conceived their baby because they couldn’t contain their joy for one another. With irrepressible joy, it was necessary for them to enlarge their family so more people could experience this joy. So, a baby is conceived in joy, and then they become the object of their parent’s joy.
This is why God created people. There was joy in heaven that the Godhead could not contain, so they created us so we could be invited into heaven's party. And just like a healthy parent, God enjoys you at every stage of your maturing, so you are the object of God’s delight at every stage of your journey.
Unfortunately, no human family accurately reflects the amazing supernatural health that exists in the Godhead. The mutual delight between Father and Son in the Godhead is so glorious it is beyond human comprehension. But Jesus prayed prior to his death that we are given the same glory (relational health) that has existed for eternity between Father and Son. Jesus said:
“I do not pray for these alone, but also for those who will believe in Me through their word; that they all may be one, as You, Father, are in Me, and I in You; that they also may be one in Us, that the world may believe that You sent Me. And the glory which You gave Me I have given them, that they may be one just as We are one: I in them, and You in Me; that they may be made perfect in one, and that the world may know that You have sent Me, and have loved them as You have loved Me. “Father, I desire that they also whom You gave Me may be with Me where I am, that they may behold My glory which You have given Me; for You loved Me before the foundation of the world” (John 17:20-24, italics added).
This is great news! Even though not every human family is healthy, we have now been given full access to the enormous health of heaven! All the unity, love, and mutual delight that Jesus enjoyed with his father is now available to you and me! Jesus has a word for the unity, love, and mutual delight that he and his father enjoyed. That word is “glory”, and Jesus prays that we get all his glory!
This glory is so powerful that it divinely restores health back to every broken heart that has experienced the inferior “glory” of human relationships.
You were designed to be enjoyed by God, and so nothing else will satisfy you. But praise God, because the one who has designed you to be enjoyed has not left your longing unfulfilled.
The Lord simplified the Ten Commandments for us. He instructed us to love God and love people. This command is easier said than practiced since you can’t give what you don’t have. You can’t obey even this simplified set of commands by drawing on the strength of your own will or ability. God is not expecting you to grit your teeth and try harder in your own ability to love people.
God wants to radically and supernaturally equip you to receive His love to enable you to love people radically and supernaturally.
God considers you infinitely valuable and He enjoys you and takes great delight in you! As you begin to realize how God sees you, this truth about your true identity transforms your heart.
The transformation that comes from discovering your identity equips you to love people. You find yourself giving love more effectively because you are now receiving love more effectively.
You discover a lifestyle of loving people that organically flows out of who you are. This lifestyle is joyful and vastly superior to your old habit of functioning like a duty-driven worker trying to love people in your own ability.
You find God’s love overflowing your heart and touching lives when you are not even trying. You find yourself honoring, valuing, and loving people because you are receiving the honor, value, and love God has for you!
You are beginning to act like Jesus because you have discovered that you are like Jesus. That is, you are made in His image (Genesis 1:26).
Photo by Joice Kelly@unsplash.com
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