121118: Welcoming Glory

He says, "It is too small a thing that You should be My Servant
To raise up the tribes of Jacob and to restore the preserved ones of Israel;
I will also make You a light of the nations
So that My salvation may reach to the end of the earth."
Thus says the LORD, the Redeemer of Israel [and] its Holy One,
To the despised One,
To the One abhorred by the nation,
To the Servant of rulers,
"Kings will see and arise,
Princes will also bow down,
Because of the LORD who is faithful, the Holy One of Israel who has chosen You."
Isaiah 49:6-7 (NASB)

Hymn: "O Bright Creator of the Stars" trans. Rev. Thomas J. Potter

Christ came into the world to redeem us from sin and death, and will return to finish making all things new and setting the world right. Consider how glorious God is, that He should even care about saving us, that He should have any desire to connect with us and take on the effort to bring us to Himself! He who was above all things, who had never had need of anything, who sat on the throne of glory, reaches out to the hurt, the despised, the servants and the forgotten and the poor. He who fashioned the world with a word and with a breath gives life to all mankind, humbled Himself to be born among animals and was greeted by shepherds.

And why should He do all this? Let us not assume that it is because we are so great and deserving of His attention that even the least of us deserve such effort. This is all for His glory; Christ coming into the world deserves more than a manger in a flyover district of the Roman Empire. It is too small of a thing that He should be the savior of one people only, the Lord of just one nation. Yet we see how His glory is manifested, that it should be by inviting us to taste of it. His glory is not something that is revealed to break us down or shame us, but something revealed to invite us in and help us know His goodness. Let us be in awe this season, not only of His glory that is revealed, but the fact that that glory makes God humble and loving rather than aloof and distant.

Praise the LORD!
Praise the name of the LORD;
Praise [Him,] O servants of the LORD,
You who stand in the house of the LORD,
In the courts of the house of our God!
Praise the LORD, for the LORD is good;
Sing praises to His name, for it is lovely.
For the LORD has chosen Jacob for Himself,
Israel for His own possession.
Psalm 135:1-4 (NASB)