Question of the Week: What is Glory?

by Anne Lang Bundy

Some of the [Christmas] words have been worn out. Can you put "glory," "joy," "Messiah / Christ," etc. in today’s vernacular?
~ Don Kimrey

A wonderful Q&A theme for the Advent season is to revisit biblical definitions of these words. We'll insert the quintessential Christmas word "peace" for "etc.," and spread the answers out over four posts:

December 3: Glory
December 10: Joy / Rejoice
December 17: Peace
December 24: Messiah / Christ

: : :

Photo courtesy of Sandra Heska King

Glory

The Bible uses no fewer than nine Hebrew and four Greek words which are translated "glory" in English. Both noun and verb forms of those words include familiar concepts such as splendor, majesty, grandeur, and especially dazzling light. But they also take in much more than the inherent beauty we commonly associate with glory.

The Bible's words for glory include praise, or boasting, as in the phrase "give glory." Some of the original language words' literal meanings include "ample" or "swell up"—because glory is always something huge. When we give glory, we are boasting in a showy way; we are magnifying God, or making Him bigger in the eyes of others.

Yet glory is even more than size. We think of it as abstract, but it has substance. The most common word for glory (Hebrew kâbôd) literally means "weight." However else we think of dazzling light and glory, we do not think of it as heavy. On the contrary, we attribute heaviness to the burden of suffering and affliction.

But the two usually go together. The greater the weight of affliction borne with faith, the greater the glory we give to God—and the greater the glory we lay up for ourselves. This is the concept described by Paul in 2 Corinthians 4:17:

For our light affliction, which is but for a moment, is working for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory.

Jesus exemplified this principle on behalf of us all. Yet He sought glory for only His Father, rather than for Himself, trusting that the Father would one day share that glory with His Son. It is this weight of glory—bound up in the weight of suffering—which we shall one day share with God.

But we see Jesus, who was made a little lower than the angels, for the suffering of death crowned with glory and honor, that He, by the grace of God, might taste death for everyone. For it was fitting for Him, for whom are all things and by whom are all things, in bringing many sons to glory, to make the captain of their salvation perfect through sufferings.
~ Hebrews 2:9-10 (NKJV)

In the Old Testament, the presence of God was occasionally visible in His shekinah glory, or His visible glory. At Jesus birth, the glory of the Lord again became visible: God became man to manifest the dazzling light of His love; His shekinah glory shone around the angels who heralded His presence; and their message carried the weight of the cross and all its suffering, bound up in the name "Savior."

"For there is born to you this day in the city of David a Savior, who is Christ the Lord."
~ Luke 2:11 (NKJV)

: : :

What questions do you have about Christianity or the Bible? You're invited to leave them in the comments below (anonymous questions welcome), or email buildingHisbody [plus] @ gmail.com

© 2010, Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.

Question of the Week: What About Job?

by Anne Lang Bundy

I wonder about the whole showdown with Job ...
~ Wendy Paine Miller

Set in the post-flood era, the book of Job evokes a picture of chess game between God and the devil, in which humans are pawns with wills of their own.

This book offers fascinating depictions of our God's personality, the devil, heavenly sparring, human suffering, philosophy, creationism, and far more—fodder for an entire book series. We'll peek at just three points.


RESPONSE TO SUFFERING

Job represents epitome of suffering in every area of life, regardless of doing what's right.

Job holds the honor of Billy Graham and the riches of Bill Gates. Then he loses all—family, wealth, health, reputation. What he has left brings him only grief—an embittered wife's nagging, three accusatory "friends," and a despised life.

Job sowed goodness and reaps adversity.

Though he will be rebuked for calling God to account and complaining "not fair," Job's response to suffering itself has inspired humanity throughout the ages:

...[Job] fell to the ground and worshiped. And he said:
"Naked I came from my mother's womb,
And naked shall I return there.
The LORD gave, and the LORD has taken away;
Blessed be the name of the LORD."
In all this Job did not sin nor charge God with wrong.
~ Job 1:20-22 (NKJV)


RESPONSE TO THE DEVIL

Job's wife provokes her husband using the exact words spoken in Heaven by God and the devil. (Compare Job 2:3 and 2:5 with Job 2:9.) We may deduce that her share in Job's losses has brought bitterness, making her vulnerable to accepting the devil's suggestions, which in turn enables the devil to use her as his mouthpiece.

God desires to be praised. The devil desires to see God cursed.

Job will curse his life. He will question God. He will complain at length, which is dangerously close to cursing God. Yet Job sets an example of rebuking the devil's words:

[Job] said to [his wife], "You speak as one of the foolish women speaks. Shall we indeed accept good from God, and shall we not accept adversity?" In all this Job did not sin with his lips.
~ Job 2:10 (NKJV)


RESPONSE TO GOD

Job curses his birth, cries "not fair," and seeks and audience with God to question Him. God gives Job an audience, but turns the questions on him with a reference to "children of pride."

Job is treated to a raw display of the Lord's power in lightning storm, tornado, and the possibly present behemoth and leviathan (likely a dinosaur and dragon).

Job already feared God. Now he is terrified. Realizing Whom he attempted to call into account, Job recants, calls himself vile, and repents. He thought he wanted God to justify His actions. But now Job justifies having trust in Almighty God's purposes, though we cannot comprehend them:

"I know that You can do everything,
And that no purpose of Yours can be withheld from You...
I have uttered what I did not understand,
Things too wonderful [incomprehensible] for me, which I did not know."
~ Job 42:1-3 (NKJV)

What questions do you have about Christianity or the Bible? You're invited to leave them in the comments below (anonymous questions welcome), or email buildingHisbody [plus] @ gmail.com.

© 2010 Anne Lang Bundy, all rights reserved.
Image source: armchairtravelogue.blogspot.com

Question of the Week: Why Earth?

by Anne Lang Bundy

"Every adversity, every failure, every heartache
carries with it the seed of an equal or greater benefit."
~ Napoleon Hill

"Why didn't God create people and just put them in Heaven instead of making them live on Earth first?"
from Michaelle

It does seem that God put both Himself and humans through an awful lot of unnecessary heartache and adversity that could be avoided if we skipped our life-long visit to Earth. At least three reasons come to mind for us to be here.

Jesus answered him, "The first of all the commandments is: 'Hear, O Israel, the LORD our God, the LORD is one. And you shall love the LORD your God with all your heart, with all your soul, with all your mind, and with all your strength.' This is the first commandment."
~ Mark 12:29-30 (NKJV)

With the greatest commandment comes the choice to love or not love the Lord. We are not placed in Heaven as pets trained to show affection. We are created with free will and placed on Earth's testing ground to demonstrate that our love is freely given.

"But indeed for this purpose I have raised you up, that I may show My power in you, and that My name may be declared in all the earth."
~ Exodus 9:16 (NKJV)

Though the Lord spoke these words of an evil Pharaoh, this is the purpose of all people. God's power is best demonstrated on Earth, where weakness exists. We most desire His goodness and love where evil and hatred exist. And declaring His name in praise comes with higher value under pressure than amid pleasure because it costs us more. Which brings up the third point.

"The kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking beautiful pearls, who, when he had found one pearl of great price, went and sold all that he had and bought it."
~ Matthew 13:45-46 (NKJV)

Those things handed to us without cost are never valued as highly as those things which come with a high cost; the goals for which we stretch and struggle and suffer are the ones worth attaining. We are placed on Earth where we fall into sin and are in need of deliverance. The great cost to God for our deliverance from sin was the death of His Son Jesus. It proves to us our great worth to Him. The great cost to follow Jesus likewise makes Him of great worth to us.

Today, nestled between Good Friday and Easter Sunday, we stand between the death of Jesus and His resurrection. Nothing has more value to God than His precious Son. He sold His Son to Death so that He could buy us back from Death. By giving Him our lives in return, both He and we will enjoy Heaven with far greater triumph and delight than if we had not first visited Earth.

© 2010 Anne Lang Bundy
Image source: cosmos4kids.com

Question of the Week: Why Suffering?

by Anne Lang Bundy


Q: "Why does God allow suffering—for example, in Haiti?"
(from Daniela Holloway in Florida, formerly of Berlin, East Germany)

If there is a question asked about God more than any other, it is why a good God allows suffering. Volumes have been written in response. This article can't adequately address such a big question, but it may provide enough basis to reconcile the presence of suffering with the existence of a good God.

Foremost, suffering is a necessary element of free will.

There are those who believe we are no more than puppets upon the world’s stage, our every movement controlled by the sovereign God pulling our strings. If such were the case, suffering would indeed be a cruel element of the drama because it is forced upon us by God.

Because we really do have free will—to be exercised within the limits our sovereign God has set—our ability to choose between good and evil is real. God’s will is always good, but it is not forced upon us. It is right (or righteous) when we choose his will. It is evil (or sin) whenever we choose what is not His will. Sin will always result in suffering—to ourselves, to others, and to all creation.

Suffering does not exist because a good God causes it. Suffering exists because a good God allows mankind the freedom to choose the sin which causes suffering. And because He is good, God uses the suffering we choose for ourselves to achieve good anyway.

"The world owes you nothing; it was here first."
~ Mark Twain

Here are some ways God uses suffering for good:

• Suffering causes us to evaluate and determine what is most important in our lives.

• When suffering exists, and yet love, sacrifice, and compassion endure, these attributes of good and of God are shown to be more powerful than suffering.

• Common suffering draws people more tightly together in unity than does prosperity and ease.

• Suffering draws us to depend upon God, humble ourselves, and make peace with Him.

• Suffering proves what kind of person we are, which in turn brings us to discover our strengths and weaknesses.

• Suffering is not God’s judgment—yet. But suffering is a component of God’s discipline, to warn us to repent of sin before judgment is faced.

• Suffering compels us to rise to our potential to overcome it, and makes us strong to better contend with life’s challenges.

My plan is to discuss these last three points at more length on my blog "Building His Body" next week as follows:
Monday: The Test of Suffering
Wednesday: The Discipline of Suffering
Friday: The Overcoming of Suffering

I know, O LORD, that your rules are righteous,
and that in faithfulness you have afflicted me.
Psalms 119:75 (ESV)

© 2010 Anne Lang Bundy
Photo sources:
Fire in Haiti street: komonews.com
Aid to boy in Haiti: guardian.co.uk
Katrina flood: faves.com
Katrina: Body Count swamppolitics.com