The Glory of the King is His People

We ask ourselves, who am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented and fabulous? Actually, who are you NOT to be? You are a child of God! Your playing small does not serve the world. There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won't feel insecure around you.

We were born to manifest the glory of God that is within us, all of us. And as we let our Light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we are liberated from our own fears, our presence automatically liberates others."

Nelson Mandela (quoting Marianne Williamson), 1994

But you are a shield around me, O LORD; you bestow glory on me and lift up my head.

David, The Psalms, #3

I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one: I in them and you in me.

Jesus' prayer for us, John 17

God "will give to each person according to what he has done." To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, he will give eternal life. But for those who are self-seeking and who reject the truth and follow evil, there will be wrath and anger.

Paul, Letter to the Roman Believers, chapter 2

Now if we are children, then we are heirs—heirs of God and co-heirs with Christ, if indeed we share in his sufferings in order that we may also share in his glory. I consider that our present sufferings are not worth comparing with the glory that will be revealed in us. The creation waits in eager expectation for the sons of God to be revealed. For the creation was subjected to frustration, not by its own choice, but by the will of the one who subjected it, in hope that the creation itself will be liberated from its bondage to decay and brought into the glorious freedom of the children of God.

Paul, Letter to the Roman Believers, chapter 8

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

Paul, Second Letter to the Corinthian Believers, chapter 3

The reason we enjoy fairy tales—more than enjoy them—the reason we identify with them in some deep part of us is because they rest on two great truths: The hero really has a heart of gold and the beloved really possesses hidden beauty. I hope you got a glimpse of God’s good heart. But what about the second great truth—could we possess hidden greatness? It seems too good to be true.

Remember, the theme of veiled identity runs through all great stories. As Frederick Buechner reminds us, "Not only does evil come disguised in the world of the fairy tale but often good does too." The heroines and heroes capture our heart because we see long before they ever do their hidden beauty, courage, greatness. Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, Snow White—they're not simple wenches after all. The beast and the frog—they're actually princes. Aladdin is "the diamond in the rough." If the narrative of the Scriptures teaches us anything, from the serpent in the Garden to the carpenter from Nazareth, it teaches us that things are rarely what they seem, that we shouldn't be fooled by appearances.

Your evaluation of your soul, which is drawn from a world filled with people still terribly confused about the nature of their souls, is probably wrong. As C. S. Lewis wrote in The Weight of Glory,

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 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...There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal.

John Eldredge, The Sacred Romance, 92–93

Shine--
Make 'em wonder what you got
Make 'em wish that they were not
On the outside looking bored.

Shine--
Let it shine before all men
Let 'em see good works, and then
Let 'em glorify the Lord.

Newsboys, Shine

Who is he, this King of glory? The LORD Almighty—He is the King of glory. Selah.

David, The Psalms, #24