| God has poured out his love into our hearts by the Holy Spirit, whom he has given us. |
| —Romans 5:5 |
Can you imagine how Mary must have felt as she carried the baby she knew was the Son of God? What an awesome responsibility! What an awesome privilege! How carefully she must have cared for herself. With an eye to her Heavenly Father, how carefully she must have lived. How she must have constantly prayed and given herself daily to God’s loving care.
Of course, God hasn’t given us that very special kind of glory to carry within us. But, if we know Him and have experienced the incarnation of His presence in our lives, He has given us the glorious presence of the Holy Spirit within us. Do we consider often enough how this fact should impact the way we live?
As we carry His glory within us, do we consider how we take care of ourselves spiritually? Do we live with an eye to our Father, purposefully determining to walk in His ways and honor Him with our living? Do we pray, asking God to enable us to understand His work in the world and how we fit into His plan? Do we consider that carrying His glory is a high privilege, one that is above all others?
I like the way that the Apostle Paul wrote about this in 2 Corinthians 4:7, and I appreciate the way that Eugene Peterson places the biblical text into our modern vernacular in The Message.1
If you only look at us, you might well miss the brightness. We carry this precious message around in the unadorned clay pots of our ordinary lives. That’s to prevent anyone from confusing God’s incomparable power with us. As it is, there’s not much chance of that.
Does that give you a sense of privilege and joy? It should. God has chosen us to carry His glory and His message to this world—a world that is very much in need of Him. Let us not put this glorious light under a bushel and hide it. Let us wear the glory of God proudly and humbly. Amen!
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| 1 Peterson, Eugene. The Message. Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan Publishing Company, 2002. |
