“Glory In The Lord”

I Corinthians 1:26-31

26) For ye see your calling, brethren, how that not many wise men after the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble, are called:

27) But God hath chosen the foolish things of the world to confound the wise; and God hath chosen the weak things of the world to confound the things which are mighty;

28) And base things of the world, and things which are despised, hath God chosen, yea, and things which are not, to bring to nought things that are:

29) That no flesh should glory in his presence.

30) But of him are ye in Christ Jesus, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption:

31) That, according as it is written, He that glorieth, let him glory in the Lord.

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lorying in the Lord (and Him, alone) is difficult for most to do because of our upbringing. In general, we are taught to be concerned with ourselves, so taking glory in another does not come naturally. Specifically, this means that how God thinks, feels or what He wants is, of necessity, second in our lives.

When an individual is brought to salvation, his re-orientation is of the greatest significance. One’s past life must be forgotten and he must change.

Perhaps our greatest example of this concept is found in the military. From one’s point of entry, he is required to do things he would not do in normal civilian life. One must get up at ungodly hours, be instantly alert (no matter what time of night or day) and learn to follow orders unquestioningly. All this is to impress upon the new recruit that he has entered a “new life” and must adapt his thinking, actions and reactions to his new environment in order to be successful.

Now, if such disorientation and re-orientation is so important in the natural sense, think how much more important it must be in the spiritual, where a soul is at stake.

Only learns to be able to take “glory in the Lord” by first acknowledging that any decision made on own has always caused problems. For even after salvation, if one insists on making his own decisions, he will have to deal with the consequences.

Many of us matured believing we were esstntially “good!” We make good decision, we lived good lives. But how “good” could we have really been without the Lord? By whose standard is “good” determined—God’s or Man’s?

We have been called to represent Christ. As such, it is a reality that all we do reflects upon Him. Therefore, it is only logical that our conduct is expected to cause others to “glory in the Lord.”

We imagine many reasons why we are unable to consistently find pleasure in the Lord. One of them is our concern about whether or not we can be successfully saved. This worry takes many forms, from being afraid of not being able to meet the standard of God, to anger stemming from not wanting to do so.

All of our problems would be eliminated if we would only remember and accept that God is discriminating in whom He calls, meaning what? That whomever He calls, He equips. We have been given everything we need to enable us to be successful. Rest assured, He knows all of our abilities, as well as what we lack. Obviously, since He calls us anyway, we have no excuse for claiming any inability.

Verse twenty-six of our text, today, reminds us that “not many” are called. If one were able to be called, feeling himself to know something, he would place his glory in his own ability. If mighty men were readily chosen, they would place glory in strength. If noble men were God’s choice, all would feel they had a right in their station in life.

Whatever one does, he must understand that it is by the grace and glory of the Lord. It is He who deserves the praise and no one else. No matter what we find ourselves able to do, it is God who has given us the ability. We should never get discouraged at a lack of knowledge about anything, for God can teach anything we need to know. And the knowledge that He gives need not take years to acquire. Being a “right now” God, He can and will bless us with instant knowledge.

One of our greatest mistakes is in believing that our situation can be solved only by our much thinking. The fact is that God’s ways are plain and simple. No amount of thinking on our part will change them, make them any more plain, or simple, or better. Plus, in the end, glory is still going to have to be given to Him. So, one way or the other, it will prove in our best interest to learn to “Glory in the Lord.”