The Glory of God

Today was nice, Natalie's mom, Joan, came in town today and we had a great time. We went to the beach and enjoyed each others company. We all went out for a quick bite and then they had a parents meeting. Tonight Tony talked about The Glory of God. We always hear about Gods glory, what does that mean to you? Paul says that just glancing at His glory would completely change your life. God shows His glory, and in the Bible when He does, men fall to their faces. That is just at a glimpse of it. Can you even imagine what that would be like? Maybe you don't really know what it means. Few men in the Bible were blessed that specifically saw Gods glory. Moses was one of them and he asked God to show him His glory. In Exodus 33 God says that no one can live and see my face. Moses only saw the back of Gods hand and was glowing for days. Like supernaturally glowing, it was so crazy the people had him wear a veil. Now even crazier is that God made us in His image, Genesis 1:27. After sin that all changed, we lost His glory. We fell away from God's glory and righteousness and were separated by sin, Romans 3:23. Now in Romans 6 it says Because of sin we are separated from Him and are going to die. Thankfully Romans 6:23 says we earn death BUT, are given eternal life through Jesus. We do not get this from doing good. Isiah says that our righteous acts are like filthy rag to the Lord. There is nothing we can do through works to get us right with God. He pays the penalty that I deserve to pay. He forgives us for what we don't deserve to be forgiven for. Why? Because He loves us! Everyone knows John3:16, and if you don't look it up and I'm sure you've heard it. He gives us a clean record and sees the righteousness of His Son in us. The verse that everyone should also know and don't is John 3:17. It basically says that He did not come here to tell you that you did wrong. He wants you to surrender your life to Him. He says, "Come to me as you are." We all think that this gift can't be free and that we have to work for it, or that nothing free is worth while. In fact it is not free. Just like the U.S. we live free and did not pay for it. The cost for this freedom is blood. Blood that Jesus shed for you and for me. So it's free to us, He paid the price for it. That is not all it takes, Romans 10:9 is a great verse, it is also misused very much. People base that verse on getting fire insurance. The biggest key about Christianity is that it is not a religion, but a relationship with God. If you don't have a relationship with Him and your life doesn't reflect His Glory, then you might need to take another look. Repentance. It costs nothing and everything at the same time. WHAT? How can something cost nothing and everything. Again, you don't work for your relationship with God. You surrender your life to Him. You must, must, must trust God and surrender everything to Him. So it costs you nothing, but you must surrender everything, fully surrender your life to Him. Trust, I promise you that Joy in Him is a much better life. Build that relationship and let Him really truly run your life. Do you know Jesus that way? I pray that you do before you go to bed tonight. Pray for all those who don't know Him this way, not just here, or reading the blog, but everywhere.

Serving Him,

Daniel