Reflectors of glory

Courses on evangelism often use Romans 3:23 as proof that we all need forgiveness. “All have sinned and fall short of the glory of God” is one of the first verses many Christians memorise.

Most of us fully agree with the first half of the verse and know that somewhere, sometime we have done wrong. We have done what we knew to be wrong. We knew beforehand that it was wrong and did it anyway. Sure, we need forgiveness.

But how many of us have ever thought that the Almighty is unhappy with the fact that we “fall short of God’s glorious ideal” as the Living New Testament puts it? This can be more confusing when we compare it with the often quoted passage “I will not give my glory to another”? (Isaiah 48:11) If God is not willing to share his glory, then how am I supposed to be “crowned with glory” as Psalm 8:5 describes mankind.

There seems to be a yearning in the human heart to eyeball that which is glorious. The words magnificent, wonderful, splendid, celebrated, superb and famous convey the same idea. Think glossy magazines. They are mostly about people. Why are they so popular? Are we looking to find the perfect human being? There certainly is some glory to be seen in humans, even though it is incomplete.

Have you ever explored the Bible in search of a hero? Someone whose life you could emulate. Most young boys probably agree that David was the kind of hero they would love to be. He solved a whole nation’s problem with one heroic deed. Everyone liked him, except Saul who felt threatened by him. Even God preferred him above his older brothers. But later in his life he proved to have feet of clay. Having a friend killed so that he could marry his wife sounds like about the lowest depths a man can sink to.

Still, every time I meet a new person, I expect to experience something noble. Mostly I am disappointed. Those who meet me don’t find me that impressive either. A recent pop song expresses the despair we have of ever having a relationship with someone perfect. “I saw your face in a crowded place … I knew I’ll never be with you” sums it up. The hope is that somewhere out there is a person who would satisfy my every requirement of perfection. But I know I could never get close to her. Maybe I think that if I got close to her, she would reject me because of my flaws. Yet, the thought of such a living person colours my life with expectation.

Large parts of the books of Leviticus and Numbers deal with the things that make a person ceremonially unclean. In short, anything remotely related to a human being’s birth or death makes the affected parties unclean. That is why the woman who had been subject to bleeding in Luke 8:43-48 was so scared; she dared to touch Jesus when she knew she was unclean. One almost gets the impression that the Lord dislikes us all because most of the time we are unclean by his measure.

Some light can be shed on our uncertainty regarding God’s attitude to us by reading Romans 3:23 in The Message: “We've compiled this long and sorry record as sinners and proved that we are utterly incapable of living the glorious lives God wills for us”. But if we are “utterly incapable” of living up to God’s standard, how can he still blame us? Deep inside every Christian knows God to be fair. There must be an answer to this mystery.

One conclusion we can draw from God’s seeming disapproval of us is that he has high expectations of us. We were created in his image. But our father Adam wanted to “like God, knowing good and evil” (Genesis 3:4). Now we cannot get away from our responsibility to choose what is good and avoid every evil. God is not pleased with his image reflecting anything but perfection.

However, he knows we fail in our striving after perfection all the time. That is why he instituted a system of sacrifices for the Israelites. For every type of uncleanness there was a sacrifice to be offered. Later came the perfect sacrifice who was offered once and for all (Hebrews 9:26-28). By his sacrifice Jesus made us perfect (Hebrews 10:14). Through his blood we have a clear conscience and may approach the living God (Hebrews 9:14; 10:22). He even gave us the right to call God our Father (John 1:12).

As long as our confidence is in Jesus we will reflect God’s glory, even though it may not always be that obvious. Think of someone with a severe disability such as cerebral palsy. How does such a person interpret Jesus’ words: “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect”? (Matthew 5:48) From the context it is clear that Jesus was talking about an attitude of forgiveness and generosity of spirit. He was concerned about the heart. But with our cooperation God changes our hearts to become perfect (Hebrews 10:16; Romans 5:5). Also, we may ask for forgiveness when we fall short (1 John 1:9).