“And the joy of the Lord appeared to them, and the glory of the Lord shone around them, and they were terrified.” Luke 2:9
- glory [doxa] = splendor, brightness, majesty
“The shepherds returned, glorifying and praising God for all things they had heard and seen, which were just as they had been told.” Luke 2:20
- glorifying [doxazo] = extol, to celebrate, give glory
Placing this comment under this heading because of the choice for your title.
Reading the daily devotional today that I receive from Ephesians Four Ministry and came across this which I found particularly relevant to “give the glory back”. The devos are pulled from TGIF-Today God is First by Os Hillman.
“For we also have had the gospel preached to us, just as they did; but the message they heard was of no value to them, because those who heard did not combine it with faith” (Hebrews 4:2-3).
The devo launches off that scripture into the following:
“I run into anemic Christians everyday. They have a form of religion but fail to mix their belief with faith and obedience. The apostle Paul described them when he said
“these people have a form of godliness but deny its power.”
What are the telltale signs of anemic faith? When you no longer pray about decisions, you have anemic faith. When you fail to speak to others about their relationship with God, you have anemic faith. When you’re unwilling to spend time with God everyday, your faith has become anemic. You no longer have a living faith.”
That is a great description of the exact opposite of worship (response to revelation). Something akin to apathy.
Os closes with these words:
“We are all susceptible to growing cold and anemic in our faith. Today, ask God to revive your heart and to restore the fire of your faith so that you will experience a vibrant and active faith that impacts the kingdom of darkness.”
Isn’t that what worship does? Impacts the kingdom of darkness. In the right way.
Every choice we make (not just the big ones) is a choice for the kingdom of God (against the kingdom of darkness) or the opposite.
It’s exciting! Like suiting up for battle everyday, but we use weapons the world doesn’t understand.
Thanks for this series. May we all respond to further revelation with gusto and excitement.