A Glorious Frame!

The seventeenth chapter of John has glory as a
central theme. Have you ever pondered this one?

"The glory that you have given to Me, I have
given to them...I in them and You in Me."

First of all, what is the meaning of this shining word,
"glory?" It means "heavy, weighty, to lay heavily,
dense, abounding with..."  There is nothing
frivolous about the ancient Hebrew when it comes
to glory. Over and over this adjective is given to
God. In the verse above Jesus says that God's glory
is ours! How can this be?  Recently, I came across
an analogy that was helpful to me. Think of God's
glory as a picture, around which is a plain wooden
frame, ordinary, common. But when the frame is
placed around the picture it comes to life in a
marvelous way. The glory coming from the picture
impacts the frame. The two become one.

"I in them, You in Me." When God's glory comes
into us and resides there, we become partakers of
His glory. Just like the common frame, we go
about living a common life; getting dinner, going
to work, playing with the children, cleaning toilets--
all the while God's glory is pouring into us as light
and life. You see, dear one, behavior does not define
who you are. Behavior flows from who your are in
reality. The frame gets a new identity from the
picture it surrounds. We receive a new identity the
moment we respond to God's love through
Jesus Christ our Savior. Jesus says,
"I give to them my glory," before we have lifted
a finger to deserve it--as if we ever could!

Dear reader, You are a glorious frame!