Today I read a book that I thought would be about one subject, namely, the glory of God, and end up having a lot to do with the subject of love, which is a subject of considerable difficulty in my life. Naturally, my mind, being the way it is, pondered the relationship between glory and love. To be sure, I do not know glory well. I have lived a deeply inglorious life, filled with awkwardness and discomfort, filled with shame and embarrassment and humiliation. Yet I long for glory, long for the goodness inside of me (such as it is) to be recognized by others, and longing to see the glory of God, and to be made into His image through many experiences. Often, the glory of God is terrifying to us–as it was to ancient Israel when they saw the glory of God on Mount Sinai. Yet at the same time, sometimes the glory of God, in the helpless baby whose parents were unable to find a place to stay in the inn in Bethlehem, is not sufficiently weighty for others to give it justice. It is easy to have fear of thundering and booming voices, and easy to look down on a small baby. It is hard to recognize glory, as it is the goodness of someone revealed and shown to us, which often requires that we be sensitive to it.

In many ways, love is not very glorious. Whether we are talking about the love between friends, in courtship or marriage, or within families, love often leads us to do things that are not very glorious at all, and can be intensely difficult. Whether it is being teased about the people we are connected to, or our own actions or anxiousness or situation, or whether it is feeling that it is necessary to do certain deeds that we would rather not do because they are best for others in our lives, we do not feel glorious often when we act out of love. Indeed, many acts of love are private, and not designed for public glory at all, and many others are the little deeds of encouragement and decency that make it possible to live and thrive. It is not attention we seek in acting out of love, but rather that the nature of God may show in our words and our behavior, and that we may be a model of God’s ways for others, reflecting his glory as the moon reflects the light of the sun and is thereby taken as a beacon of light in an otherwise dark sky.

What then, is the glory of love? Part of it is the fact that people can recognize when we are zealous and passionate about something other than ourselves. There is a certain appreciation one has in seeing others whose voice raises and whose face lights up when talking about God’s ways, and thinking about the complicated and intricate sort of life that God seems to have marked out for us and those around us. Part of the glory of love is the fact that people who live their lives with passion and zeal and enthusiasm cannot help but radiate a certain sort of intensity, and when that zeal and enthusiasm are directed towards good ends, it tends to bring others happiness merely to bask in its presence. In so doing we can gain at least a bit of afterglow ourselves from the radiance that others have. Of course, if we choose the object of our devotion poorly, the glory is fleeing and exceedingly brief, and often overwhelmed by the aftermath of its downfall. Still, if we receive our glory and radiance from God, and our trust in Him is enough to sustain the good days and the bad days, the doubts and the misinterpretations and all that happens inevitably in any sort of relationship with anyone, then we are better suited to live lives of glory, regardless of whether our circumstances are all that impressive or not.

What is the purpose, ultimately, of our glory? Is it not to point back to the source of all glory and blessings, and indeed, life itself, to our Creator in heaven? Any kind of glory that tries to point to ourselves as its origin will only ensnare us in the envious attacks of others who will wish to take us down a few notches. If we are honest with ourselves, we will recognize that all of us make it far too easy for that to happen as well. We cannot make idols out of people, for others will only let us down simply because they are human, for the same reason that we will let them down from time to time for the same reasons. Our precious faith cannot be in fallible man or in the works of our hands. And yet to live we must devote ourselves to something, even though we know that man and the causes of mankind will ultimately be unworthy of our love and devotion, our faith and trust. And yet our faith in God must not isolate ourselves from others and from concern for them, but rather we must ennoble ourselves through love for others shown in practical ways, even if they are not glorious. No one ever said living well was easy.