Our Lord shines His glory in Creation. That expression is functionally the same as: He reveals Himself in and to His Creation. We reflect His glory by our willing participation in revealing Him. We reveal Him by obeying His call on our lives, which includes harvesting the blessings of His Covenant. This is the focus of our existence on this earth.
In Hebrew language and culture, there is a strong assertion that word and conduct must match. Indeed, a standard parable is referring to conduct as speech. The sum total of your behavior, particularly in observance of His Covenant, is your conversation. Lying is when the two don’t match. Any philosophy that distinguishes between word and deed is evil. Making them consistent so that we can refer to one or other without distinction is fundamental to reflecting His glory. We are His revelation; we are His Law because we obey His will. This is what we mean by following Christ as the Living Word of God.
His Word is His will is His character — it’s a Person. The intent is that you and I become that Person.
We shouldn’t have to explain how “the world” — the ambient human society without Christ — finds us alien. For us, our whole existence has no other purpose. We strive to set aside all other human motivations because we are driven by the conviction that nothing is of greater benefit to us or the rest of Creation than to live His Word, His revelation of Himself. We shine His glory and our single driving interest in dealing with humans is seeking to shine that glory into their awareness.
See it all as a whole. We don’t live by rules; the Law Covenants were never intended to work like that. Those covenants were aimed at indicating something beyond mere intelligence: a heart-led way of living as God’s family. We represent Him on this earth and in this world. Christ is the fulfillment of all Biblical Law. His response was always contextual, with whatever adjustments were needed to meet the moment with the glory of the Father. It was precisely the same glory shining when He spent time alone in the Wilderness, when He cracked a whip in the Court of Gentiles, and when He hung on the Cross. It was all one thing: the revelation of His Father’s character speaking to the context.
We may or may not accept the ostensible human goals for a lot human activity, in terms of our participation. But whatever it is we do as His representatives in the various occupations of people, we place the highest premium on how our presence affects their awareness of God’s glory. Whether or not that person receives it is all in the Father’s hands; our mission is to shine. So we will sacrifice a lot of human concerns for a chance to shine that light of truth. Everything else we do has to be a part of that one thing to which we are called.
The rest of Creation supports this, including our fleshly bodies. If glory demands we suffer some human discomfort, then the body will play along if the heart is in charge over the brain. If the brain is ascendant, then we will truly suffer and refuse to understand. It’s not a mere matter of being hungry; the difference between starving and fasting is whether the flesh is connected properly to the heart-mind. Without the heart ordering all things within, the body will respond inappropriately. Instead of resting and cleansing, your flesh will drive you nuts demanding food at any cost and it will destroy it’s own resources.
Your mind cannot make your flesh obey the truth, in part because the mind cannot know the truth. But walking in the heart-led way puts our whole being in harmony and communion with Creation and with the Creator. And that is what shines His glory; it’s what reveals His truth.
