“Such was the appearance of the likeness of the glory of the Lord. And when I saw it, I fell on my face, and I heard the voice of one speaking…………..
“………..And he said to me, “Son of man, stand on your feet, and I will speak with you.” And as he spoke to me, the Spirit entered into me and set me on my feet, and I heard him speaking to me. Ezekiel 1:28- 2:2
This is the GOD who I desire to worship everyday………but is this the GOD who I worship everyday?
Ezekiel was looking with an unhindered view of the glory of the LORD, only one response is possible when face to face with such radiant holiness and majesty, and that is collapsing humility, which is nothing less than complete self-forgetfulness. You become a pliable ball of clay. So much so that the prophet could not even stand until the Holy Spirit entered him and placed him on his feet.
It is breath-taking even imagining it right now in south Phoenix in front of my laptop.
However, as I start breathing again, oxygen is not the only thing that enters my heart, there is a pang of conviction that accompanies it. Does my theology leave room for the glory of God, that is so majestic that the only response possible, is trembling humility, leaving my flesh paralyzed, as His indwelling Spirit animates and works through me?
Does my day to day life reflect this level of glory and greatness? After all that is why I exist. My life is to display the greatness of God’s glory, specifically as it is is displayed in Jesus the Christ. But does it?
1 Corinthians 10:31 tells me, “whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God.” Or my paraphrase “make sure that your day to day life reflects the greatness of GOD”.
Is it possible to see the glory of God and live my day to day life with an embittered, self centered, lethargic or indifferent spirit, and so live life completely self absorbed, allowing my comfort level to dictate my actions or rather reactions?
I don’t think this is a peripheral issue that can be swept to the side, while we “sacrifice” an hour or two for church on Sunday and a mid-week bible study.
Radical-loving and risk-taking lives are not forged by the human will. And they certainly aren’t begotten by remaining inside the city walls of comfort and popularity. Jesus tells us to”take up your cross daily and follow me” Lk 9:23. Where are we following Him? Was this meant to be an ambiguous statement of general obedience? I don’t think so.
Jesus tells us where we are following Him in the very next verse “but whoever loses his life for my sake will save it” [v24]. We are following Him to Golgotha, to die to the pleasures and applause of this world [Gal 6:14]. This is not a popular road full of praise and honor. Golgotha is not a place where the lights and cameras are pointed, unlike the attempt of the modern American Christian church to portray it as such. It is a place of scorn and reproach, it is a place no man part from the Spirit of God could ever willfully and joyfully go.
And yet this is the place where Jesus had to go to sanctify those who have transferred their trust to Him, therefor we are called to go outside the camp and bear the reproach He endured [Heb 13:12-13].
This is where many self-acclaimed disciples end their journey with Christ [Jn 6:68]. These are the “disciples”, who are pro Jesus, as the bread-giver, miracle-worker, and popular ticket to Heaven. But have yet to see the glory of God in Jesus, as the Bread of Life and the Fountain of Living Water.
Unless God opens the eyes of our heart to see the fullness of Himself in Jesus Christ, then we can’t act in faith along with Moses as “he considered the reproach of Christ greater wealth than the treasures of Egypt, for he was looking to the reward” [Heb 11:26].
To live a life that shows the greatness and supremacy of Jesus Christ day by day, we must be fighting to behold that priceless, grace-enabled, Spirit-wrought view, of the glory of the Lord, that leaves us collapsed in humility before an all consuming Majestic and Holy God.
The supremacy of Christ will not look attractive to the world by our material abundance, ease of life, and popularity within our social circles. The world has those things and they get them much quicker and easier than Christians. The supremacy of Christ is shown when we willfully and joyfully turn from the earthly treasures and go outside the city gate to bear His reproach, because we have “a better possession and an abiding one” [Heb 10:34].
Lord, make us hungry, slay us, brake us, and render us completely helpless, that we may come to You completely depleted and soul-sick, in desperate need of the Great Physician’s touch. Lord once again make Your name Holy and Majestic in this day and age where the Fear of God, has become another 4-letter word that we don’t say in church. You are to be feared and if Your glory did not come sheathed in the flesh of Jesus, man could not bear it!
journeytolosemyself 