ETERNAL GLORY (SEPTEMBER 24)

"Therefore I endure everything for the sake of the elect, that they also may obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory" (2 Timothy 2:10).

BY THE TIME PAUL WROTE HIS SECOND LETTER TO TIMOTHY, HE HAD SUFFERED A GREAT DEAL OVER A PERIOD OF MANY YEARS. And why had he done so? In the text above, he said that his labor had been motivated by a desire to see others “obtain the salvation that is in Christ Jesus with eternal glory.” The glory that awaits, of course, is glorious just because it is God’s glory. In a similar passage in Romans 5:1,2, Paul had said, “Since we have been justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. Through him we have also obtained access by faith into this grace in which we stand, and we rejoice in hope of the glory of God.”

Contrary to what we often hear today, this “eternal glory” is what the gospel of Christ is primarily about. Yes, those who have this hope in Christ will do all they can to alleviate suffering in the world, but if we downplay — or leave out altogether — the main point of the gospel, we have not shown true love to our neighbor. On this battlefield we call “life,” people do have many needs, and it’s sometimes hard to know what kind of help to render first. But God’s glory is far and away the most important need that anyone has. More attention needs to be paid to the greatness of that need.

The “eternal glory” of which Paul spoke is worth more than anything else we will ever have the privilege of enjoying. That is not to say the joys of this world are trivial, for they are very good. But since we lack in this world the main thing we were created for — full, complete, perfect fellowship with our Creator — any of the joys available to us right now must be classified as lesser joys. Even if we could have them all, they wouldn’t come close to the one thing waiting for the faithful when Christ returns: eternal glory. Paul was not wrong to spend his lifetime working so others might have that. And we are not fools if we can say, as he did, “Brothers, I do not consider that I have made it my own. But one thing I do: forgetting what lies behind and straining forward to what lies ahead, I press on toward the goal for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus” (Philippians 3:13,14).

"I would not give one moment of heaven for all the joys and riches of the world, even if it lasted for thousands and thousands of years" (Martin Luther).