DECEMBER 12
EZEKIEL 25:8–17
Life on this side of eternity is one constant glory war.
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I saw a change in my friend. He had once been a champion of
the gospel. It was the fire in his belly, the passion that constantly
motivated him. But now he was different. It hadn’t happened all
at once, but his ministry had changed. It had been all about his
Savior, but now it was all about him. He seemed to have fallen into
the lure of his own notoriety. He clearly loved being the center of
attention. He liked being surrounded by his fans. He loved hang-
ing around with the “cool kids.” He was still in ministry and still
doing ministry things, but the glory-focus had radically shifted.
Whether he knew it or not, the glory that excited him was not
the glory of his Savior. He was obsessed with his own glory, and it
would be his undoing.
You and I were hardwired by God for glory. We are attracted to
glorious things. That’s why we love a great meal, an overtime cham-
pionship game, a beautiful dress, a dramatic movie, or a multihued
sunset. God has packed his world full of glorious things and given
us the ability to take in those glories. But every glorious thing God
has created points to his glorious glory. We were never intended to
live for our own glory or some created glory. Our glory orientation
should drive us to the Lord, so that his glory would finally satisfy
the glory hunger in our hearts.
Sin causes us to search for glory satisfaction outside of our Cre-
ator, but God will not share his glory with another. God is jealous
for his glory to be the one glory that captures our hearts, and this
should shape the way that we live. His holy jealousy for his glory
is clearly communicated in a single statement repeated in Eze-
kiel 25–26: “Then you [or they] will know that I am the Lord”
(Ezek. 25:7, 11, 17; 26:6). God is pronouncing judgment on the
nations that surround Israel. He exercises his holy justice so that
these nations will know that he is the Lord. God exercises his power
for his own glory.
Does this bother you? It is wrong to live for your own glory
because, as a creature, you belong to the one who made you. You
exist by his will and for his purpose. But God is not like you. He
reigns in glorious majesty over everything and everyone he has
created. His zeal for his own glory is the hope of the universe. It is
in living for his glory that we are rescued from our bondage to our
own glory, a glory that will never satisfy our hearts.
Only by the power of God’s delivering grace are we liberated
from our bondage to the glories of creation to find our hope, life,
and satisfaction in living for the glory of our Maker. In 2 Corinthi-
ans 5:15, the apostle Paul reminds us that we find that grace in the
person and work of Jesus. He came so that we would live no longer
for ourselves “but for him who for [our] sake died and was raised.”
Prayer
Lord, help me to live for your glory. Rescue me from the bondage of
my own glory, which will not satisfy. I thank you for being my hope,
my life, and my satisfaction. I praise the name of Jesus, the one who
died and was raised for my sake. May I live for his eternal glory
alone, even as I pray in his name, amen.