Psalm 96:1-6
Oh
sing to the Lord a new song; sing to the Lord, all the earth! Sing to the Lord,
bless his name; tell of his salvation from day to day. Declare his glory among
the nations, his marvelous works among all the peoples! For great is the Lord,
and greatly to be praised; he is to be feared above all gods. For all the gods
of the peoples are worthless idols, but the Lord made the heavens. Splendor and
majesty are before him; strength and beauty are in his sanctuary. (ESV)
Over the next few weeks, you will be
scrambling to get ready to leave for Uganda.
There is certainly much preparation work to do, and the immediately
preceding devotional (Devotional #2) pointed out the importance of making your own spiritual
condition a priority in that preparation.
Perhaps as important as the preparation of our souls is the focus of our
priorities. The next devotional will
look specifically at our mission, but before we get to that, we need to focus
on the author of that mission - Jesus Christ.
Jesus Christ is the radiance of the
glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature (Hebrews 1:3). It is through Jesus Christ that God will
forever be glorified (Romans 16:27).
Through Jesus Christ, God's glory is manifested in the church (Ephesians
3:21). By his glory in Jesus Christ in
accordance with his riches God supplies all of our needs (Philippians
4:20). He has eternal honor and dominion
(1 Timothy 6:16). To him is ascribed all
glory, all majesty, all dominion, and all authority (Jude 1:25). That is why his name has been lifted above
every other name (Philippians 2:9).
Ultimately, Jesus is the reason we are
going to Uganda. We should neither
desire nor expect to accomplish anything else other than the exaltation and
glory of Jesus Christ. Many wonderful
and exciting things will happen while we are there, but each and every one of
them should bring about God's glory through Jesus Christ. This is a great responsibility that each of
us bears, but it will also be the source of a great blessing to each of
us. Think about it. God will use the actions of you and me to
bring glory and honor and majesty to himself and to Jesus Christ. What an awesome blessing... but what an
awesome responsibility as well.
In your quiet time today, meditate on
the great glory of Jesus Christ. God has
put everything under his footstool, including the trip we are about to
take. Consider Christ not in his humble,
earthly, servant state as he existed here on earth. Rather, consider Christ in his elevated state
as King of Kings and Lord of Lords. As
you consider his majesty, think of him as Isaiah saw him (from our first
devotional):
In
the year that King Uzziah died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and
lifted up; and the train of his robe filled the temple. Above him stood the
seraphim. Each had six wings: with two he covered his face, and with two he covered
his feet, and with two he flew. And one called to another and said: “Holy,
holy, holy is the Lord of hosts; the whole earth is full of his glory!” And the
foundations of the thresholds shook at the voice of him who called, and the
house was filled with smoke. And I said: “Woe is me! For I am lost; for I am a
man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips; for
my eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts!” (Isaiah 6:1-5 ESV)
Christ's glory was so great that Isaiah
fell on his face as if he were dead.
This is who Jesus is today, and yet he says to us: "No longer do I call you servants, for the servant does not know
what his master is doing; but I have called you friends, for all that I have
heard from my Father I have made known to you." (John 15:15 ESV). Think about how amazing that is! Then consider the blessing/responsibility
associated with representing him as Ambassadors of Christ in Uganda. As you
think about that blessing/responsibility, remember these words of Paul in 1
Corinthians 10:31
So,
whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God. (ESV)
Father, you are indeed glorious and
holy above all others and that glory is manifest in Jesus Christ our Lord. We praise you for your greatness and we pray
that everything we do demonstrates your majesty to the nations.
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