Glory & blessing

In John's gospel, Jesus reveals his glory through the signs, 'This, the first of his miraculous signs, Jesus performed in Cana of Galilee. He thus revealed his glory...' (John 2:11).

But the greatest revelation of his glory was still to come - at the cross, 'Jesus replied, 'The hour has come for the Son of Man to be glorified.' (John 12:23).

'Father, the time has come. Glorify your Son, that your Son may glorify you...' (John 14:1).

Jesus' time of suffering is his time of greatest glory. Now think about Mark 8, 'If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.'

If suffering on the cross is Christ's time of greatest glory, and if we are to take up our cross as he did, is it not reasonable to think that our time of suffering is also our time of greatest glory?

And what does it mean to 'take up your cross'? Well back in John 13, Jesus shows his disciples what it means, 'Jesus knew that the time had come for him to leave this world and go to the Father. Having loved his own who were in the world, he now showed them the full extent of his love. Jesus knew that the Father had put all things under his power, and that he had come from God and was returning to God; so he got up from the meal, took off his outer clothing, and wrapped a towel around his waist. After that, he poured water into a basin and began to wash his disciples' feet, drying them with the towel that was wrapped around him. (John 13:1-5)

Taking up our cross means serving others. That's where we experience, share, enter into the very glory of Jesus.

But we spend our lives avoiding the cross, we make excuses for not serving - too busy, too tired, need time for myself, it's Eastenders... And then we wonder why we don't feel close to God! If you want to experience the glory of God - serve others!

"Ah", you say, "that's all very well for you on sabbatical!" Well, I had great expectations of experiencing God afresh on retreat & sabbatical, but you know what? I can't wait to get back to serving God's people, because it really is in doing that that I experience God's glory. It's good to read and study, but only because it will, by God's grace, help me serve better, and so experience his glory.