II Corinthians 3:18

About six weeks ago, our church opened our revival services with a concert by The Scott Day Band. This was not new for us as we have had them in concert for several years to open our revival. This year, however, one of the songs struck me in a special way. I had heard them do this song before, but this time the Lord spoke to me through it. “I fall face down, as your glory shines around.”

I thought about times in the Bible when God’s glory shone around. The first thing that came to mind was when Moses came down from Mt. Sinai. As Moses came down from that mountain where he had been in God’s presence to receive God’s commandments, his face was shining with the glory of God. (Ex. 34:30) Also, when Jesus was transfigured, “his face did shine as the sun, and his raiment was white as the light.”(Matt. 17:2) His glory shone around him.

Perhaps you remember the show “Touched by an Angel.” During the story, usually near the end, when it was revealed that the individual was an angel, his/her image began to glow – His glory shone around – God’s glory was revealed through His messenger – the angel. It says in our verse for this week that as we are in His presence, we too, “are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” The Living Bible paraphrases this verse by saying, “But we Christians have no veil over our faces; we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works with in us, we become more and more like him.”

Does God’s glory shine around us as Christians? Obviously, we will not actually glow as the “angels” did in the TV show. But our “glow” can be the good works that are there because of what Jesus does through us. Things like kindness to those who may be unkind to us; generosity; compassion; helpfulness; patience; humbleness; service to others; love and any of those qualities that Jesus showed us when He walked this earth.

His glory can shine around us as we fall down before Him in response to His greatness and as we attempt to glorify Him in our service to Him and others.