That’s God’s Glory on Your Face
That’s God’s Glory on
Your Face
There’s something different about the way I look when I’m walking in obedience to God. I don’t know how to describe it. Maybe it’s a brightness in the eyes. Maybe I find it easier to smile. A kind of glow, maybe?
I don’t know quite what it is, but it’s there. It’s different. It happens when I’m crowding myself close to the Lord and submitting my words and thoughts and actions to Him. It’s as though “the glory of the Lord fills His temple.”
“Come on, Joni,” you tell me, “don’t get carried away.” Okay. Yet there really is something to it.
In the book of 1 Kings, God told Solomon His glory would fill the temple as long as Solomon and the rest of the people remained loyal to Him.
Did it ever!
When the priests withdrew from the Holy Place, the cloud filled the temple of the LORD. And the priests could not perform their service because of the cloud, for the glory of the LORD filled his temple (8:10-11).
But in the ninth chapter, God warned that His glory would depart from the temple if the people disobeyed and turned away from Him. He even went so far as to say that everyone—even people outside Israel—would notice that God no longer occupied the temple. The building would still be standing, the priests would still go in and out performing their duties; but the presence of God’s fullness would be gone, and everybody would notice the change.
I don’t want to push the analogy too hard, but I think there’s a sense in which this applies to you and me. Today, we are the temple of the Holy Spirit. He takes up residence in these bodies of ours, and when we obey His commands we are filled to brimming over with His Spirit.
People can’t help but notice.
They see a change, however subtle.
On the other hand, when we turn our back on God’s Word and plunge headlong into sin, His Spirit no longer fills us. He is quenched. He is grieved. Oh, He still resides within us, but He no longer fills us with His glory. As in Solomon’s day, the glory of the Lord departs from His temple.
Am I talking to you today? Are there times when you’ve pulled a clever disguise over some sin in your life? Perhaps you’ve tried to hide some secret rebellion from the eyes of others. You’ve tried to conceal it from your church, from all your Christian friends. You’ve put on your Sunday best, a fresh shirt and a silk tie. You’ve put on your makeup, powdered your nose, and painted a nice wide smile on your face. Nobody will detect it, you think.
But they will. I’m speaking from experience. They will!
So take this as a friendly caution today. Get right with God and clean out your temple so that the fullness of His glory may return. And return it will, bringing a breath of fresh air and that indescribable glow back to your face.
When God’s Spirit is filling you, spilling out all the doors and windows, everybody is going to notice.