Which kind of Glory

In the Gospel according to John, he says in a portion of Chapter 12:36-50: "Although he had performed so many signs in their presence, they did not believe in him...Nevertheless many, even of the authorities, believed in him. But because of the Pharisees they did not confess it; for fear that they would be put out of the synagogue; for they loved human glory more than the glory that comes from God."

Do we love human glory more than we love God's glory? We think that we were born into humanness without a choice, so we are stuck with natural world rules and measures. After all, we do need to fit in to our surroundings, our society, and our culture. Isn't pleasing our neighbor one of the commandments? What's wrong with hard work and dedication?

We can't afford to fail. Being successful just comes with our commitment to be the best that we can be in what we do. We believe in Jesus, but we have to handle the opportunities and problems of the real world.

If we really know Christ Jesus and His Father through Him, we know that life is a gift. Our lives are not just random accidents of nature. We are chosen by God and can share in His kingdom as His children. He is our source and therefore His is the glory that we should seek.

Natural world rules and standards are humdrum and only have real meaning if God is in them. Cultures, societies, governments and all other ways the natural world is organized is merely man shaping and manipulating parts of God's creation. They do not exist without Him.

Jesus told us to love our neighbor not to try to please our neighbor. Are we afraid of being shunned if our neighbor is not pleased? Pleasing God is the goal and if we love our neighbor, we please Him.

In the natural world we can have our hard work and dedication. We can be successful and we can have failures. We can be the best at what we do. We can be good at seizing opportunities and solving problems. Ultimately however, if God is not at the center of it all, we have missed the mark. We must praise Him and give Him thanks for all that we have and do, because it is His creation that has made all of it possible.

And when things go wrong as we play with His creation, we have only God to fall back on. How can we fix the clock that the master clockmaker has made? How can we fix God's creation when we have tampered with it? We must give God our successes and our failures.

Better yet, we must let Him in on the front end of our endeavors. Otherwise we must pray and say, "Father, I have tried to work things out on my own. Please help me function in Your creation. I am helpless without You. I now seek Your glory Father."