Do you check expiration dates on food? I do. Even the best foods have a date after which it is unwise to eat them. I have learned this the hard way. What is the shelf-life of glory? Have you ever wondered? When my sports teams win a big game, I think I will never forget it. But I do. Time passes. What year was that? Earthly glory fades.
Even the glory on Moses’ face faded with time. For forty glorious days he sat in the counsel of God. When he came down the mountain, his face was so bright it scared the people. He had to wear a mask. For a while. Then the glory was gone. When the Philistines captured the Ark of the Covenant, a child was born and his mother named him “Ichabod,” meaning, the glory is gone.
Paul differentiates the glory of the old covenant and the glory of the new covenant in Christ. Moses wore a veil. To the time that Paul wrote and to this day, a veil covers the eyes of many. I know people who do not believe and who cannot seem to believe. But if they turned to the Lord, the veil preventing them from seeing Jesus would be taken away. Paul grew bolder as he grew older. How about us?
Our hope in Christ makes us bold. We are not trying to cover up what God is doing, nor is he trying to disguise it. Glory is not in the victory of a sports team (though I am pulling for the Astros as I live this week in the land of the Braves), nor in the exultation of an achievement or award. The glory which not only lasts but grows is the glory of God revealed in the faces of his people as we grow in Christlikeness. The work of the gospel in our lives is not just transportation to heaven when we die but transformation like Christ while we live. How are we doing?
How does it happen? The longer we contemplate the Lord’s glory, the more we are transformed to be like him. The glory of Christ in his people does not wane but waxes day by day. The Lord does this in us through his Spirit. Looking out at trees on a lake in South Carolina today, I remember Thomas Merton’s words: “To be an acorn is to have a taste for becoming an oak tree.” Transformation is not automatic. We all know long-time Christians who still act the same way after years of opportunity to grow. Everyone grows older, but not all grow in maturity to become more like Christ. How about us?
