As we described previously, man is indeed a Glory Bearer as God’s ambassador on earth, and the power given him by God is truly power (and not an illusion or merely symbolic). But when I left you all on an outrageous cliffhanger, I axed a question: miiiiight it be the case that, if you give a lot of unique authority to a kind-of dumdum, miiiiiiight he possssssibly misuse it?
Wellllllllll, when you consider the world of pop music:
Or orange people:
Or cruises:
The answer is clearly, “no way, nobody misuses power!”
Uh yeah, obviously every single person on earth misuses their power (to freely sin, for instance) every single day. The more power, the worse the consequences.
As no other physical creature on earth carries the authority and anointing that man has, then that “glory of man” carries potential abuses along with it:
- Man can use the authority given him to destroy creation instead of bless it
- He can rule ruthlessly and carelessly
- …and he can overestimate himself.
For if man sees any of the previously mentioned powers bestowed on him as arising from himself (instead of being generously given him by a gracious God), that hubris will take him down. The real OG for this stance of thinking too much of oneself (even when that self was objectively glorious, as anointed by God) is Satan himself.
I don’t know that I’ve ever written quite this sentence before, but… WE CAN LEARN SO MUCH FROM SATAN! Wanna give it a go? Okay, let’s consider him:
You may know this, but Genesis 1:1 isn’t the beginning of all things, it’s just the beginning of God’s story with man (the GOSPEL story). Prior to Genesis 1:1, all manner of epic histories transpired. Some of them are referenced in the Bible; I’m sure countless numbers are not. But the pre-Genesis story of Satan is chronicled for us in Isaiah 14 and Ezekiel 28. Here’s some of what that last passage says:
“You had the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty… You were the anointed cherub who covers, and I placed you there.”
Remind you of anybody you know? Yeah! It reminds you of MAN, who is also a glorious, beautiful, anointed creature. And God gave both Satan and mankind their glory. But Satan, we must note, wasn’t satisfied to enjoy the place God had given him. Nope, he got stars in his eyes:
“…your heart is lifted up
And you have said and thought, ‘I am a god,
I sit in the seat of the gods
In the heart of the seas’…
you [imagine yourself to be more than mortal
and] think your mind is as [wise as] the mind of God-
Behold, you are [imagining yourself] wiser than Daniel;
There is no secret [you think] that is hidden from you…
By your great wisdom and by your trade
You have increased your riches and power,
And your heart is proud and arrogant because of your wealth…”
Oof. I wish that sounded SUPER foreign to me… but it doesn’t. Even the “I’m a god” line. While it sounds so offensive to me coming out of someone else’s mouth, there are times when I act and think as if I’m worthy of worship, and my heart becomes lifted up. I can share all these traits with Satan:
- I can think “I sit with the gods”. I mean… seriously! I have exercised power over demons before, and I know God assigns angels to help guard me. I’m pretty important and powerful right?
- I can think “I’m more than a mortal” Again, consider the first part of this post! I may someday rule over cities in the life to come. I have ambitions to be revealed as a “son of God”, which includes mastery over all nature, as well as speaking prophetic words that help shape the future. I have life and death in my tongue!
- I can think my mind is as wise as the mind of God. Don’t I have His mind, via revelation? Don’t I know the true nature of sin, salvation, righteousness, authority, and life? These things were imparted to me and they’re mine! I know them (and most of creation does not). So aren’t I as wise as God, at least in some things?
- I can think “by my wisdom and trade I have increased my riches and power”. Of course I fall into this trap! I worked hard didn’t I? I saved my money didn’t I? I took advantage of opportunities that came my way (opportunities that lesser men might not have taken) and have carved out a career path for myself… right? It’s sad that some people are poor but the guy on the end of these thumbs made some pret-ty good moves to get where he is… RIGHT??
This satanic tendency to attribute our gains to ourselves instead the God who gave us the ability to earn and do all the wonderful glory-bearing things we can do (as Deuteronomy 8 says in no uncertain terms) isn’t going away. It’s one of the core temptations of man: to keep striving after more and more God-glory. For instance: did you ever think how crazy it was that Satan tempted Eve with the “you’ll be like God” line, when she was ALREADY like Him in a way that Satan himself never would be?? He has given us so, so much… but we always crave more.
Thus says the Lord: “Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, Let not the mighty man glory in his might, Nor let the rich manglory in his riches;
Why This Now?
I believe this point (that man is glorious, yet must guard against Satanic vainglory) is especially salient right now. Because man’s insatiable appetite for exploring life outside of God is cyclical (that is, he comes back to the same fallen ideas over and over), the zeitgeist can only fall into so many holes on the philosophical roulette wheel. And today we seem to be re-exploring this idea, that man is good, and powerful, and self-redeeming, and improvable, and that a well-lived life can be about service of self OR service of other people (this is a very fine point but is actually taught in churches around the world: that we do what we do for people’s sake. This is properly called idolatry. We do NOT do what we do out of love or devotion for people, but out of love and devotion for God alone). This entire line of thinking has a name:
hu·man·ism
/ˈ(h)yo͞oməˌnizəm/
noun
- an outlook or system of thought attaching prime importance to human rather than divine or supernatural matters. Humanist beliefs stress the potential value and goodness of human beings, emphasize common human needs, and seek solely rational ways of solving human problems.
Humanism is often attributed to renaissance thinking or even to the Greeks, but as we just read in Ezekiel 38, its origins are from before the world was made. Humanism is returning to American culture in new clothes (heard anybody describe “being the best version of you” lately?), but the idea is the same: man is supernatural of his own merits (not merits ascribed to Him by a Good Creator) and has need of nothing outside himself to create his ideal future.
Now, by Google Chrome’s count, that’s 1500 words I’ve devoted to this subject. WHY? So WHAT?
It’s important to me because we, my home-running Abrahamic bosses, ARE MEANT TO RULE, just like the very first verse on this page declared. It’s sewn into us, this destiny and purpose. BUT. But we must do so inside God’s hierarchy or we run right into rebellion, like Satan himself. Being “sub” to God means that we live out the fact that His power supersedes my own. His influence wins over mine. His greatness isn’t challenged by my glory. My convenience loses to His. His pleasure, comfort, timing, and preferences win out against mine, every time. And that arrangement doesn’t undercut the glory he’s given to me; it undergirds and reinforces it!
Because without Him I am nothing.
Without Him, I can DO nothing.
There is no goodness in me apart from Him.
And I have to be reminded of my glory by My Father when I get down on myself, or think that lowly activities are appropriate for me (they are not); but I also need to be reminded of my place on the food chain when I get a little full of myself and think that my glory could exist outside of His kind provision. That real and present danger of losing our moorings means we take time (like at our Sabbath celebrations, and at feasts, and in daily or weekly worship or whatever your rhythms are) to regularly acknowledge the God of the Universe, and His place of provision in our lives.
Observant Jews pray the following line every day: Blessed are You, LORD our God, King of the universe, Who brings forth bread from the earth…
In so doing they remind themselves that their provision and purposes comes from a source outside themselves. Jews know how to handle money (!), but Jewish practice over thousands of years is NOT to attribute that wealth to themselves. Jews have also been magnificently resilient… but they do not attribute their endurance to themselves. They are gifted and anointed and powerful and a host of other things… and they know it hasn’t come from them. May we, like them, know that we rule because of God’s kindness, and we rule for His glory, not our own. We serve at His pleasure. We live because of His sustaining presence. As Psalm 100 says, “It is HE Who has made us, and not we ourselves. We are His people and the sheep of His pasture…”
Most people don’t know they’re glorious… but some people believe the source of glory is man himself.
Here at Abe’s Wallet, we stand for greatness AND humility.
Ruling UNDER SUBMISSION.
Bearing glory… but never engaging in vainglory.
