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MEDITATION:

Written by R. C. Sproul (1939-2017), an American Reformed theologian, broadcaster, and pastor. He was the founder of Ligonier Ministries. This is an excerpt from his book “The Race of Faith.”

The quest for glory is highly motivating. How often we will try harder or run farther when glory seems within reach. We are even willing to sacrifice personal comfort for a chance at glory. Repeating “No pain, no gain!”, we will fight to push further. We want our lives to count. We want to be celebrated for pursuing something worthwhile. There is a reason we experience this deep thirst for glory. In God’s Word, we discover that we were created for glory. He formed our bodies and breathed life into us so that we might know the greatness of His holiness and stand in awe of it. Our hearts and minds were meant to be so impressed with God’s goodness, that we would readily worship and obey Him. In this way, we would reflect the amazing glory of God. Yet, look around you. The world doesn’t shine with the glory of holiness, does it? Perhaps you have noticed how evil has deformed our world. There is suffering, bitterness, deceit and death. If we were created to know the glory of God, what went wrong? The answer provided by God’s Word points to our own hearts. We were created to rely on God and give Him glory. But we insist on seeking our own glory instead. We have substituted God’s will for our own desires and set out to make a name for ourselves. This is what the Bible calls ‘sin’ and it is the disobedience of God’s purpose for us. Sin tempts us to find satisfaction in our own frailty instead of God’s greatness.  Mistakenly, we try to find enduring glory in our identity, our work, or our dreams. But again and again, we find ourselves both empty and unsatisfied.

But the message of the Gospel is gloriously good news! “God so loved the world”, the Bible says, “that He gave his only Son, that whoever believes in Him should not perish but have eternal life”. Jesus Christ, the perfect son of God, took the form of man but without the sin of man. He lived among men yet without participating in their disobedience. He did not waver from pursuing God’s will and glorifying God’s name. He perfectly reflected God’s glory…The Bible phrases the good news like this: “There is therefore now no condemnation for those who are in Christ Jesus.” In Jesus, we are gifted with forgiveness, hope, peace and satisfaction. In Jesus, we are readily accepted before God’s presence and discover anew the beauty of His love and holiness. This is salvation. This is truly glorious. This is the Gospel.

PRAYER:

The  prayer is from the Mozarabic Breviary, a liturgical rite of the Latin Church in the 500s and  used generally in the Iberian Peninsula (Hispania), in what is now Spain and Portugal.

O Christ our God, you will come to judge the world in the humanity you have taken on yourself. Sanctify us wholly, that in the day of your coming our whole spirit, soul, and body may arise to a fresh life in you, that we may live and reign with you forever, to your honor and glory; you live and reign with the Father and the Holy Spirit, one God. Amen.