I try to make it a habit to write down quotes that stand out to me. Tonight in class, I had that opportunity.
I'll refrain from giving the name of this quotes author for now, as I don't want it to taint anyone's evaluation of the quote. What I haven't decided yet, is to what level I agree with this quote. Nonetheless, it stood out to me.
"Our disgrace is not that we have not worked enough for God to increase His glory, but that we have failed to delight in God and in doing so, reflect His glory."
What do you think?
Tuesday, March 04, 2008
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5 comments:
How does a person truly delight in God. How does that look out in the world? Maybe I should know these things, but I don't. I would need to know them I think to truly appreciate the quote.
This quote is very confusing.
He/she/it is trying to highlight this idea of disgrace with delighting in the Lord.
So this leaves me with the question of how is he/she/it defining delighting in the lord? And how do we delight in the lord?
To delight is a verb that many of the Psalmist use (Psa 1.2, 16.3, 35.9, 35.27, 37.4, 43.4, 51.16 & 19, 62.4, 68.30, 111.2, 112.1, 119.16, etc...). Generally delight first suggests an action, which is followed by a delighting in the Lord. First action for God, then delight in God. Also delighting and rejoicing in the Lord are basically the same thing.
So is this person suggesting we delight in God regardless what we are doing?? Is delighting in the Lord the same as worship?
Is anyone else having a difficult time trying to figure out what is being said or am I just partially retarded?
Nate what is your interpretation of this quote since you heard it first hand? Maybe you can shed light on the author's intent in relation to the context in which the quote was stated.
I don't think we need to think so hard about this one as it may at first seem. I think all it is saying is that it is to my disgrace, or my shame, that I don't delight in what God is already doing in my life (and others').
I don't think the person saying this has a focus on what delight looks like, but simply that we do delight. Though I think it is a good question, it is not the point.
I think the focus he/she is intending is that God's glory does not increase because of my work. God's glory appears more and more evident as we delight in him and therefore become reflections of who he is and what he is doing in the world (my aside: God's glory is not what changes, it is my ability to recognize his glory that changes). It is by being an accurate reflection of God that we fulfill our ultimate calling to be salt and light to a hurting world. (Inevitably, reflection will require that we "do," but the motive lies in God rather than self.)
I'll default to my wife's comments above.
The quote was read in the midst of a student's presentation. As I heard it, the thoughts that sprang were like those that JEK has explained.
Should my aim be working and trying to increase God's glory, or should my aim be delighting in God and reflecting His glory to other people. It is a matter of focus and intention.
Both, presumably, are actions which would be focused on the increase of God's glory in the people and world around us, one through our trying to bring it there, and one through trying to reflect what is already there.
I just haven't decided what I think about this quote yet, but that is how I understand it.
Right. I got you.
When one says delight in the Lord, I feel like I do not have a clear understanding what exactly this means?
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