2 Corinthians 3 (4)

Pray Psalm 27.11-13.
Teach me Your way, O LORD,
And lead me in a smooth path, because of my enemies.
Do not deliver me to the will of my adversaries;
For false witnesses have risen against me,
And such as breathe out violence.
I would have lost heart, unless I had believed
That I would see the goodness of the LORD
In the land of the living.

Sing Psalm 27.11-13.
(St. Denio: Immortal, Invisible God Only Wise)
LORD, teach us; LORD, lead us because of our foes!
Hear, LORD, when we plead for release from their woes.
Had we not believed all Your goodness to see,
our heart sorely grieved and in turmoil would be.

Read 2 Corinthians 3.1-11; meditate on verses 10, 11.

Preparation
1. How did Paul describe the glory that was “passing away”?

2. How did he describe the glory that “remains”?

Meditation
In his collection of essays, The Weight of Glory, C. S. Lewis identified what I consider to be perhaps the greatest problem in the Christian world today: “Indeed, if we consider the unblushing promises of reward and the staggering nature of the rewards promised in the Gospels, it would seem that Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak. We are half-hearted creatures, fooling about with drink and sex and ambition when infinite joy is offered us, like an ignorant child who wants to go on making mud pies in a slum because he cannot imagine what is meant by the offer of a holiday at the sea. We are far too easily pleased.”

Not only is our faith “shrunken”, as David Wells put it, but our desires are shrunken as well. God offers us glory in knowing Him, a weight of glory that crushes our natural sinfulness and lifts us to heights of joy and hope where we overcome and grow through every trial. God offers us glory that remains, not like the passing glory on Moses’ face; glory beyond the mere letter of the Law; glory of the indwelling Spirit, stretching out and transforming us into the likeness of Christ; glory in all the minutiae of our quotidian lives; glory that makes the Presence of God real and thrilling and emboldening and full of rejoicing; glory that makes the Kingdom of God a daily reality; glory that makes us increasingly like Jesus day by day; glory that excites us here and now with the unimaginable prospect of what awaits us then and there.

God offers us no passing glory but glory that remains and grows and expands in all directions to fill our world with knowledge of God’s glory and the reality of Jesus, risen and reigning and returning soon.

God offers us glory. Do we desire it? Do we long to experience our great salvation exceedingly and abundantly beyond all that we’ve ever dared to ask or think?

Or will we just keep fooling around with our mud-pie faith, all the while thinking “This is as good as it gets”? 

Treasures Old and New: Matthew 13.52; Psalm 119.162
“‘But let him who glories glory in this,
that he understands and knows Me,
that I AM the LORD, exercising lovingkindness,
judgment, and righteousness in the earth.
For in these I delight,’ says the LORD” (Jer. 9.24).

“For if what was passing away was glorious, what remains is much more glorious” (2 Cor. 3.11).

The Law is not the means to salvation; it is the result.
The glorious knowledge of God which leads us to obedience.
And in that, He delights.

“The steps of a good man are ordered by the LORD, and He delights in his way” (Ps. 37.23).
“Those who are of a perverse heart are an abomination to the LORD,
but the blameless in their ways are His delight” (Prov. 11.20).
“Lying lips are an abomination to the LORD, but those who deal truthfully are His delight” (Prov. 12.22).
“The sacrifice of the wicked is an abomination to the LORD,
but the prayer of the upright is His delight” (Prov. 15.8).

By and through obedience, we shine the light of God’s glory into our Personal Mission Field.
“You are the light of the world…Let your light so shine before men, that they may see your good works and glorify your Father in heaven” (Matt. 5.14, 16).

When we glory in His righteousness, when we allow His glory to shine through us, we bring delight to the LORD. And by bringing Him delight, we delight.
“And I will delight myself in Your commandments, which I love” (Ps. 119.47).
“I long for Your salvation, O LORD, and Your law is my delight” (Ps. 119.174).

God remains, always and forever, in His glorious glory.
“Glorious things are spoken of you, O city of God!” (Ps. 87.3).

And we have hope now, and forever, for a much more glorious day.
“For our citizenship is in heaven, from which we also eagerly wait for the Savior, the Lord Jesus Christ, Who will transform our lowly body that it may be conformed to His glorious body, according to the working by which He is able even to subdue all things to Himself” (Phil. 3.20, 21).

We know and understand that He is the LORD, and we glory and delight in that!

For reflection
1. What does it mean to desire the glory of God? How do you know when you are desiring His glory?

2. Why do you suppose we settle for “good enough” when God says there is always more glory to know?

3. How can believers encourage one another to escape from a merely “good enough” approach to faith?

As the moon and stars, though in themselves they are not merely luminous, but diffuse their light over the whole earth, do, nevertheless, disappear before the brightness of the sun; so, however glorious the law was in itself, it has, nevertheless, no glory in comparison with the excellence of the gospel. Hence it follows, that we cannot sufficiently prize, or hold in sufficient esteem the glory of Christ, which shines forth in the gospel, like the splendor of the sun when beaming forth. John Calvin (1509-1564), Commentary on 2 Corinthians 3.10, 11

Pray Psalm 27.1-10.
Pray that the Lord Who dwells in you will make His glory known to you, within you, and through you throughout the day.

Sing Psalm 27.1-10.
(St. Denio: Immortal, Invisible God Only Wise)
LORD, You are our Light and our Savior most dear!
You guard us with might; therefore, whom shall we fear?
Though evil surround us, our enemies fall;
no harm shall confound us when on You we call.

One thing we request but to dwell with You, LORD.
Your beauty to test and to think on Your Word.
In trouble You hide us secure in Your grace;
no foe may o’erride us: We sing of Your praise.

Hear, LORD, when we cry and be gracious, we pray!
LORD, do not deny us Your favor this day!
Our help, our salvation, though others may fall,
preserve our good station when on You we call.

T. M. and Susie Moore

Growing in prayer
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Except as indicated, all Scriptures are taken from the New King James Version. © Copyright 1982 by Thomas Nelson, Inc. Used by permission. All rights reserved. For sources of all quotations, see the weekly PDF of this study. All psalms for singing are from The Ailbe Psalter, available by clicking here.