We as Christians have largely forgotten the goal of our glory. We emphasize bringing glory of God. “Whatever you do, do all to the glory of God” (1 Corinthians 10:31). We do not, however, talk positively about us getting glory. In fact, I think we’d agree that if the idea of us receiving glory were spoken of a hundred times, ninety-nine uses would be negative (if not all hundred). We all know it well: We do not seek our own glory, praise, recognition from people; we seek God’s glory.
In this sense, this is certainly right (1 Thessalonians 2:6; 1 Corinthians 10:31). But if we stop here, like usual, we do not deal with the full (and helpful) biblical picture of our seeking glory in the Christian life. For the Bible does talk about us getting glory—about us getting honor, praise, and recognition. And we desire this because we were made for this. Such glory-getting certainly is subordinate to God’s glory; our glory is never ultimately of us or for us, especially since such me-focus the essence of pride and sin. But still the Bible does talk about our glory.
C.S. Lewis and “The Weight of Glory”
This in fact is what C.S. Lewis was discussing in his essay “The Weight of Glory.” This essay is deservedly famous for Lewis’s apt remarks about how “Our Lord finds our desires not too strong, but too weak…We are far too easily pleased,” for in Christ we are offered “unblushing promises of reward” that “appeal to desire” while we instead choose “to go on making mud pies in a slum.”
But what, we may ask, are these “unblushing promises of reward” that “appeal to desire”? What is the “holiday at sea” compared to “making mud pies in a slum”? According to Lewis, the weight of our glory. That’s what we don’t emphasize enough (and rather choose mud pies). Our own receiving of glory, according to Lewis, is that which is full of “weight.”
What Is Our Glory?
Now, such an idea may be a shock to us. It may even seem unappealing. Yet the Bible gives an “unblushing,” as Lewis says, appeal to our glory as a reward.
So, what does this mean? Just as the idea of God’s “glory” is hard to define, so ours is too. But we may try: Our getting glory is a receiving of transformational praise, honor, and recognition from God. The words “praise, honor, and recognition” are fitting because this, by definition, is a large part of what constitutes glory. We cannot say we receive “glory” and ignore these ideas. But so the word “transformational” is needed as well. For, as we’ll see, the glory we receive is something which changes us, and especially will do so forever. And in both cases—in the praise and the change—it is glory we get from God.
In brief, then, there’s two aspects to our glory: 1) we receive recognition from God, and 2) we receive glorious change from God. Let us see these two aspects from the Bible.
1) Our Glory is Receiving Recognition from God
First, our glory consists of receiving recognition from God. This is famously evidenced in Jesus’s Parable of the Talents, where the faithful are not only rewarded with double portions, but with a divine commendation: “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21, 23). Our Lord himself entreats us to be faithful by appealing to the possibility of a divine praise. We do well, then, to strive for such approval, for such glory.
And a similar idea is conveyed by Paul multiple times in his letters. First, in 1 Corinthians 4, he says that when the Lord comes, he will judge. But more specifically, in his judgment will commend certain people: “Therefore do not pronounce judgment before the time, before the Lord comes, who will bring to light the things now hidden in darkness and will disclose the purposes of the heart. Then each one will receive his commendation from God” (1 Corinthians 4:5). In other words, don’t pass judgment, but wait for God’s judgment, but not only judgment, but commendation—which is similar to Jesus’s “Well done.”
Second, Paul takes up this same idea in 2 Corinthians 10, and here it is even clearer. In discussing not boasting in ourselves, Paul uses God’s commendation as a reason to avoid pride. He writes, “‘Let the one who boasts, boast in the Lord.’ For it is not the one who commends himself who is approved, but the one whom the Lord commends” (2 Corinthians 10:17–18). Why do we not boast in ourselves but in the Lord? According to Paul, because (“For”) we are seeking the Lord’s approval and commendation. Once again, then, a motive for godly living—this time specifically God-glorifying humility—is the Lord’s commendation.
Third, Paul speaks similarly of our “praise being from God” at the end of Romans 2. It appears to be a strange way to end the chapter and even the verse. For in the chapter, he is talking about how sinful we are and how little our good works contribute to our salvation, and then in the verse itself, he is focusing on how a true believer is someone who has been changed inwardly by the Spirit. We would expect, therefore, for him to end the chapter and verse by saying that this person glorifies God alone. And although that is implied, this is not how he ends. He rather once again appeals to our receiving of recognition. Paul writes, “But a Jew is one inwardly, and circumcision is a matter of the heart, by the Spirit, not by the letter. His praise is not from man but from God” (Romans 2:29). So, someone born by the Spirit is someone who does not seek praise from man—this makes sense. But, according to Paul, such a person does get praise—praise from God.
In sum, then, the Christian is someone who is commended and praised by God now (2 Corinthians 10:18, Romans 2:29), and will be commended by God at the judgment day when we hear “Well done, good and faithful servant” (Matthew 25:21, 23; 2 Corinthians 4:5). This is part of our “weight of glory.” And in each of the verses listed, it is implied we should keep such a prize in front of us; we must seek this glory.
2) Our Glory Is Receiving Glorious Transformation
But it is not only that this glory is our praise from God. Second, we also see that this glory is so substantial that it is what will transform us into who we will be forever.
This is why the Bible calls our future state glorification. We will be glorified in such a way that we’re changed forever. “And those whom he predestined he also called, and those whom he called he also justified, and those whom he justified he also glorified” (Romans 8:30). Just as we were given a destiny beforehand (predestined), just as we were called by God (called), and just as we were declared righteous in God’s sight (justified), so one day we will receive glory (glorified). This is our future: glorification.
Earlier in that same chapter, Paul describes it as being “glorified with him”: “The Spirit himself bears witness with our spirit that we are children of God, and if children, then heirs—heirs of God and fellow heirs with Christ provided we suffer with him in order that we may also be glorified with him” (Romans 8:16-17). As children and heirs, we will “be glorified with Christ.” And, amazingly, it’s this that then leads Paul into his next verse about the stunning weight of glory about to be revealed: “For I consider that the sufferings of this present time are not worth comparing with the glory that is to be revealed to us” (Romans 8:18). What is that “glory that is to be revealed to us”? Our being “glorified with him.” It is our glorification (see also Hebrews 2:10).
So our glorious change, our “glorification” is future, but we get hints that it doesn’t only happen in the future. It also has begun already and is happening now. For example, Jesus prays to his Father not about us receiving glory in the future, but now: “The glory that you have given me I have given to them” (John 17:22). Moreover, what we often call “sanctification” may properly be referred to as “present glorification” as well, since: “We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18). We behold Christ’s glory, but that leads us then to being changed from one degree of glory to the next. We will one day be glorified fully, yes, but right now, we are being changed, becoming more and more glorious.
To summarize both aspects of our glory: We not only receive glory from God in the form of praise and commendation, now and especially in the future, but we also receive Christ’s transformative glory, now and forever.
A Text That Possibly Includes Both Meanings
Which leads finally to reason I even am writing this post. As I was studying the Bible, I saw that there’s a text that (subtly) mentions our glory which may include both meanings above. In 2 Thessalonians 1, us being glorified in Christ is mentions slightly, but in it Paul could be referencing 1) our receiving commendation and recognition from God, both now and forever, and 2) us being changed and glorified in him, also both now and forever. (I’m still working on this text myself, but as it appears to me now, it seems this may be the case).
Here’s the two verses in full. Notice Paul’s subtle reference to our glory:
“To this end we always pray for you, that our God may make you worthy of his calling and may fulfill every resolve for good and every work of faith by his power, so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” (2 Thessalonians 1:11–12)
The logic is clear: Paul is praying that God may make them worthy and may fulfill every resolve for good by his power. Both these are present realities he is praying for. And why is he praying this? “So that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.”
Four simple words (“and you in him”), but a profound insight. Paul is praying that God to so work in them now that Jesus may be glorified in them and so that they might be glorified in Jesus. We could even condense the verse, then, to say: “I’m praying for you, that God will work in you, so that Jesus is glorified, and so that you are glorified in him.”
The question we must then ask is, What does this mean? What “glory” of ours is Paul referring to here when he says, “and you [be glorified] in him”? To begin, we notice that because he is praying for present realities, he most likely is referencing present glory. But is it presently receiving praise from God or receiving transformation? Probably both—we both receive the divine commendation and the divine sanctification. But that’s not it, we have good reason for thinking Paul’s “glorified in him” here certainly has a future reference as well (see again Romans 8:17). He’s referencing not only our pleasing God, but also our being changed by God, now and in the future.
So might Paul, in one simple phrase—“and you [be glorified] in him”—be summing up the whole biblical teaching of our glory? I think so, and such glory is quite an amazing reality: God works in us, so that he may be glorified in us, but also so that we may be glorified in him—so that we may receive recognition from him, now and especially in the future (“Well done”), and so that we may be changed by his glory, both now and in the future (glorification).
Seek Your Glory
Let us now return to Lewis, for he again is helpful. The phrase he uses in his essay to describe our “weight of glory” is the divine accolade. He writes,
“When I began to look into this matter I was shocked to find such different Christians…taking heavenly glory quite frankly in the sense of fame or good report. But not fame conferred by our fellow creatures—fame with God or (I might say) “appreciation” by God. And then, when I had thought it over, I saw that this view was scriptural; nothing can eliminate from the parable the divine accolade, ‘Well done, though good and faithful servant’…
The promise of glory is the promise, almost incredible and only possible by the work of Christ, that some of us…shall find approval, shall please God. To please God…to be a real ingredient in the divine happiness…to be loved by God, not merely pitied but delighted in as an artist delights in his work or a father in a son—it seems impossible, a weight or burden of glory which our thoughts can hardly sustain. But so it is.” (C.S. Lewis, The Weight of Glory, 36, 38-39)
It is a weight of glory which seems impossible, but “so it is.” We can please God, genuinely, now and forever.
And it is this “divine accolade” that we live for—that we must live for. We’re glory-chasers by nature, we want to please and be pleased, praise and be praised, because God made us this way. We were designed to glorify him and to be glorified in our glorification of him. So if we don’t chase this glory, we glory-chasers will seek it elsewhere—most prominently from other people, which is an aberration of our design, something surely condemned in the Bible.
So we must seek the divine accolade, now and especially for when we see him face to face. But that’s not it, it is this divine accolade, through Jesus, that also leads us to our glorious transformation, now and forever. One person will live their whole life, be changed from one degree of glory to the next, and in the end receive the divine accolade, leading to final glorification. Another person will live their whole life, lack sanctification, and in the end not receive the accolade, resulting in forever falling short of the glory of God in eternal punishment. As Lewis says in his essay, “It is a serious thing to live in a society of possible gods and goddesses, to remember that the dullest and most uninteresting person you can talk to may one day be a creature which, if you saw it now, you would be strongly tempted to worship or else a horror and a corruption such as you now meet, if at all, only in a nightmare” (41).
Our eternal destination hinges on seeking glory.
Which brings us to a final Bible verse proving the point that we must seek our glory. Although we may cringe at the idea (and we should if we’re talking about seeking our glory from people), we cannot escape that seeking glory is vital and indispensable to persevering as a Christian. Paul makes this evident when, in Romans 2, he says that it is only those who “seek glory” who will receive eternal life. Here are Paul’s words:
“He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life; but for those who are self-seeking and do not obey the truth, but obey unrighteousness, there will be wrath and fury” (Romans 2:6-7)
Notice the two options: eternal life or wrath. And what is the differing factor? The Christians are “those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality,” while others are “self-seeking and do not obey the truth.” It hinges on our seeking of glory and honor. For we will all do it, but either the glory and honor we’re seeking will be a transformative divine accolade from God, rooted in gospel truth, supplementing Christ’s own glory, or it’ll be self-seeking glory from others.
Which will you choose? As for me, I’ll happily, now and forever, seek my glory from God—because of what Christ did, subordinate to Christ’s supreme glory alone. I hope you will as well.
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Side note: This idea of seeking our glory could also be further clarified by many of the verses that talk about pleasing God (which is how Lewis describes it over and over in his essay). It is true that on our own our good deeds do not please God (think of Isaiah’s filthy rags), but the New Testament actually usually speaks positively about our ability in Christ to now please God by our words, thoughts, and deeds. And connecting it to glory, as we please God, we’re looking to please him, meaning, we’re looking for him to look at whatever we’re thinking or doing and take pleasure. In brief, we’re looking for his commendation, his accolade (to use Lewis’s words). And this is also fits with the idea of glory because, as we please God like this, he will smile back upon us (with such “glory”) and this pleasing is what will change us now and forever (“glorification”). And this is especially true since we, and all our good Christian works, are forever are in Christ, the ultimate “Son with whom I am well pleased.”
