Chasing Glory - Part 1

WELCOME

“Everyone who bears my name and is created for my glory. I have formed them; indeed, I have made them.” - Isaiah 43:7

Have you ever considered the word glory? Glory is not an easy concept to define. In the aforementioned verse, the reference is God’s glory. The literal definition of glory is weight or weightiness, and in this sense, God’s glory is “the combined weight of everything that makes God God…His love, justice, goodness, wrath, omniscience, omnipotence, majesty, wisdom, and grace” (taken from The Assist: A Gospel-Centered Guide to Glorifying God Through Sport, Brian Smith, 16) on display for the world to see.

Picture a World Cup soccer match versus a Saturday morning youth match. Both have value, and both have fans attending, but one certainly carries more weight, more prestige, and more majesty. God is the weightiest, most prestigious, majestic, and powerful being in existence, and everything he says or does is glorious. Glory is something God possesses, can share, can receive, and it can even describe his presence. We can summarize it this way: “The triune God who is glorious displays his glory…God’s people respond by glorifying him. God receives glory and, through uniting his people to Christ, shares his glory with them–all to his glory” (The Glory of God and Paul, Christopher Morgan & Robert A. Peterson, 26). No wonder glory is so difficult to define.

WORKOUT

Created in His Image

Read Genesis 1:26-27

What does it mean that we were created for God’s glory? The creation narrative at the beginning of the story provides a few clues. The words image and likeness are extremely important in this passage. Being made in God’s image sets humanity apart from the rest of the entire created order. Consider the vivid language of Psalm 8:5, “And you made him [humanity] a little lower than heavenly beings, and with glory and with majesty you crowned him.”

• What comes to mind when you hear the words “image and likeness?”
• Notice the Psalmist says that God has crowned human beings with glory and majesty. What implications should this truth have for how we view other people?

Human beings, male and female, were created with the capacity to personally experience God’s glory, and like mirrors, to reflect His glory into the rest of creation. The result of God’s glory on display through human stewardship is worship: creation giving glory back to God with humans serving as the worship leaders. This reality has huge implications for human value, dignity, purpose, and identity. It also has huge implications for how we coach and compete. In practice, in games, or in conversations with parents, God has created us to image Him, to reflect His nature and character in these spaces. The beauty and wholeness that kind of life brings into the world draws others into an awareness and appreciation of God’s goodness. That recognition is the foundation of praise and worship, of reflecting glory to the one to whom it truly belongs.

• Part of what it means to worship or praise God is to glorify Him. God is glorious, so what does it mean that we can bring Him glory or glorify Him?
• Have you ever considered that your coaching could glorify God? What would be it mean to view your coaching as a worship leader position?

WRAP-UP

Author Brian Smith has a great definition of what it means to glorify God: “Giving glory to God means acting and thinking in a way that pleases God and draws attention to who he is” (Smith, 17). Smith summarizes well the dual nature of our created purpose: to represent God in the world and bring attention back to him, the source of all that is good and beautiful.

Take a few minutes to meditate on Psalm 19:1: “The heavens declare the glory of God, and the expanse proclaims the work of his hands.” The majestic and awe-inspiring spaces and places such as beautiful sunsets or star-filled night skies point beyond themselves to someone more glorious. Every time our gifts and talents as coaches inspire awe in others, let us point beyond ourselves to God the Father, to one to whom all awe, wonder, and praise belong.

Created in His Image: God created you to know him, to love Him, and to be like Him in all you do.

Created for His Glory: When we know God, love Him, and represent His character and purposes in the world we both bring Him glory and reflect His glory into the world.