“AND AFTER YOU have suffered a little while, the God of all grace, who has called you to his eternal glory in Christ, will himself restore, establish, and strengthen you” (1 Pet. 5:10). “His eternal glory in Christ”—just what does this glory life mean, now and forever? We usually associate it with the eternal glory in heaven. Peter says this glory is in Christ and it must therefore be now as well as hereafter. Again he speaks of “a partaker in the glory that is to be revealed” (1 Pet. 5:1). A partaker now! Again: “If you are reproached for the name of Christ, you are blessed, because the spirit of glory and of God rests upon you” (1 Pet. 4:14). “The spirit of glory and of God rests upon you”—now.
This glory experience in Christ is partly received and seen in the new birth; there is an extension of it in the receiving of the Holy Spirit, but there seems to be a very definite experience of glory, which the New Testament writers are trying to express, beyond both of these two mentioned experiences. What it is, I’m out to know. I’ve felt periods when for days I was in the glory. I’ve seen it in Rufus Moseley, an authentic saint. He lived in the glory more than any person I’ve ever seen. The word “glory” was upon his lips constantly, for the state of glory was a constant state within him. This persisted through health and through painful sickness. I have seen it in a Kerala Christian in South India, whom we called “ Stotrum ”—“Praise.” That word “stotrum” was upon his lips for everybody and everything. He said it as a greeting, and he said it as a farewell. I called on him when he was past ninety and on his bed in what proved to be his last illness. He greeted us with stotrum, and after prayer we left, and his last word was stotrum. It was not a phrase; it was an experience. His face and his words said the same thing: stotrum.
Dear Lord Jesus, upon the Mount Thou didst appear in glory and so did Moses and Elijah appear in glory. It must be associated not with place, but with condition. Give me that condition that I may appear in glory now. Amen.
AFFIRMATION FOR THE DAY: I will name one foot “Glory” and the other “Hallelujah,” and I will walk the Glory Road with feet and heart saying “Glory Hallelujah.”
