Having just celebrated my 95th birthday, I am becoming ever more aware that my “graduation” is somewhere ahead. I understand that when it happens, I will encounter an “evaluation,” which according to my understanding, will be at least two-fold. First, there will be fruitfulness in all that the Lord has entrusted to me (2 Cor. 5:10). And second, there will be the degree to which I have allowed the yoke of Christ to transform me into His image as a mature son. This is the predestined purpose that was on Father’s mind when He laid His hands on me (Rom. 8:29).
It is from within this context that have I revisited, with new understanding, Paul’s statement, “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” (Rom. 3:23). Knowing we have sinned is not a big issue, at least for me. However, Paul inferred that attaining to the glory of God is something we should be seeking in this life.
There is an aspect of God’s glory expressed in the scripture that we need to actively consider and embrace as a lifestyle. When Moses was on the mountain he cried out to the Lord, “Show me your glory. “
Then the Lord passed by in front of him and proclaimed, “The Lord, the Lord God, compassionate and gracious, slow to anger, and abounding in lovingkindness and truth; who keeps lovingkindness for thousands, who forgives iniquity, transgression, and sin” (Exodus 34:6-7).
God considered the quintessence of His own glory to be compassion, grace, forbearance, lovingkindness, truth, faithfulness, and forgiveness. These seven aspects of God’s glory I consider to be God‘s “DNA”. It defines all that He is and does. John’s gospel repeats this in a condensed form, “And the Word became flesh and dwelt among us, and we beheld His glory, glory as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth” (John 1:14).
Jesus declared to His Father, “The glory You have given to Me, I have given to them [the disciples]” (John 17:22). This glory embodies the same seven attributes that are the core of the Father’s person and Jesus’ very being. It is the glory we are challenged to manifest to each other and to the world.
If this glory had been the hallmark of the church throughout her history, how different the world might be today. If and when I exercise “my right to myself” by fleshly choices, I depart from the transforming power of Christ’s yoke. I am forgiven, but repeated forgiveness is rarely, if ever, transformative.
We will be evaluated by a Man, a Son who fully matured in His own humanity through suffering. Christ longs for us to demonstrate the authentic degree to which we have been conformed. We are to bear His image as sons and daughters. Paul’s words on Mars Hill remind us that “we ought not think that the Divine Nature is like gold or silver or stone, an image formed by human skill and thought.” There is urgency to approximate Christ’s humanity in the earth.
May our journey in 2026 remain focused on Father’s predestined glory, which He is perfecting in all of us.
Agape,
Bob Mumford