Paul wrote that we who have made the Kingdom turn stand in the hope of glory, the hope of experiencing God’s glory and expressing it in even the most ordinary, everyday ways. And that glory is known above all as love. Today’s excerpt from The Kingdom Turn is found on pages 82 and 83:
“In Paul’s mind a close connection exists between the glory of God, in which we hope, and the love of God, which the Spirit enables us to know and to express. God is love, John explained; so, just as where God is, glory is, so also where God is, love is; and we may expect to experience the glory of God, that awesome and wonderful spiritual weight, as an intensely personal and all-pervading awareness and experience of God’s unfailing and unchangeable love.
“We stand in hope of the glory and love of God. This is perhaps the primary way we experience the glory of God. Though God’s glory takes many forms and witnesses to many aspects of His deity and will, yet the hope in which we stand comes to full realization as it taps into the streams of God’s love, flowing in our souls in the Spirit of God.
“What greater glory could we know than the love of God within and upon us? Eternal life consists in knowing God and Jesus Christ; it is this knowledge of God that enables us to stand in the hope of glory as we gaze into the face of our Savior through the mirror of His Word and Spirit.
“Obviously, this is not merely an intellectual knowledge. Believers are called to know the love of God in a way that is more than merely intellectual, a way that gives us the sense, the experience, Paul says, of being filled up into all the fullness of God.”
For reflection or discussion
1. When do you most experience the love of God? How do you experience it?
2. In what ways are you being “filled up into all the fullness of God?
Nothing is more glorious than to know the love of God, because the glory of God spreads throughout our world as we bask in God’s love and it—which is the glory of God—transforms us into the likeness of Jesus. Spread some grace today by sharing this Read Moore podcast with a friend. Then push that grace even further by following-up to discuss what you’ve heard. And remember, your free copy of The Kingdom Turn awaits you in The Ailbe Bookstore.
T. M. Moore
