Jesus prays to the Father about his death.
Click here for an online Bible John 17:1-5
Jesus prays for the Father’s glory and his own glory. Sometimes we get a little uncomfortable talking about God pursuing his own glory. It sounds selfish and conceited. If we ask, “What is the purpose of people?”, we are OK with the answer, “The purpose of people is to glorify God.” But, then if we ask, “Why did God create people?”, the answer, “God created people for his own glory” makes some of us uncomfortable. That doesn’t sound very humble.
God is perfect. God is loving. The greatest thing in the world is to know God. There could be nothing greater than God’s glory. So, it is not a matter of conceit for God to seek his own glory. It is a good thing. Jesus makes the point in his prayer that lost people coming to salvation brings God glory.
Our prayers should be that God will receive the glory that he deserves. We should pray that our lives will bring glory to God. We should pray for the salvation of others so that God will be glorified.
Glory to God.
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3 comments:
More evidence for those JW's that may come to your door:
Now, Father, glorify Me in Your presence with that glory I had with You before the world existed.
Just as God ALWAYS is, was and will be as Jesus is with Him. Even to state "Always" has tendency to make us think in terms of time but God created time so He is not even a part of it. Tough to wrap our puny minds around but awe inspiring to think He desires me to know Him personally.
Thanks for this blog cliff. Though I don't always come up with comments, I read it all the same for a regular dose of the Word.
The point of humility is to get ourselves out of God's way. It seems so wrong to say that, but we need to deny ourselves and let God rule in our lives. It is not me that gives you this Word, but rather it is Christ. My fingers move, but I do not type and even as your eyes move across these rays of light, the Word will not take root unless you give it a place in your heart, and that can not happen unless Christ moves you to it. If you humble yourself, the Word will come to you and God Himself will explain the rest. Yield to the Spirit.
I think there is great power in realizing that God created us for His glory. Let it be known that the Glory of Jesus Christ is the same as the Glory of God. When we act on our faith our faith is put on display. It is not an easy thing to see God in a person, but this prayer of Christ is the prayer each of us must realize and internalize and make our own. We need to see ourselves as being equal with Christ, not separate but joined, united, one.
Just believe and God will do through you -- the same as He has done through His Son, Jesus Christ.
Amen
It is interesting to note that the Holy Spirit begins the prayer, then Christ Jesus finishes the prayer. Would you agree?
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