Glorious Significance

I’ve never won anything! I have friends who have randomly entered their names into competitions and weeks later they receive a call informing them that they have won a fridge or a phone, or whatever. I have entered countless competitions, yet not a single call. One time my mom received one such call informing her that she had won a brand-new tablet. She didn’t even remember entering any competition. Go figure. Me, no such luck. Well… This isn’t entirely true. 

One time I was shopping in a home furniture and décor store, one of my favourite places to be. There I was minding my own business when a lady randomly grabbed me and said, “Her! She’s always in here!” Before I knew it, I was sitting at a table that had been set up in the middle of the bottom floor of the store. At this table were two radio hosts, each with a microphone in front of them. The lady who had passionately steered me to this table, motioned for me to sit down at a third seat, in front of a third microphone. “Jesus! What is this?” I thought to myself, “I’m just here to buy some art.” After I sat down, nervously smiling at the radio hosts who were reminding listeners that they were live on the air, the female host welcomed me and asked my name. For a split second, I wanted to lie, “What was my name again?” After answering honestly, the male host went on to ask me a question about the store. I don’t remember the question, or what my answer was, but I do remember it was a very easy question. I answered it immediately but was told to repeat myself a little louder into the microphone. After doing so, both hosts excitedly informed me that I had won a prize. A child-like grin spread between my cheeks. I can’t explain how excited I was. I had finally won something! Wow! The passionate lady was back and as quickly as she had motioned me to sit down, she motioned for me to join her off to the side. She had a rectangular box in her hand and a broad smile on her face. She looked more excited than everyone in the store combined. She quickly handed me my “prize” and said, “Happy shopping!” I awkwardly walked away from the makeshift radio studio and once I was a safe distance away I finally looked down. The childlike exuberance immediately left my body. It was an onion cutter! All that hoopla for an onion cutter! I handed it to Ceaser, rolled my eyes and continued my shopping.

I couldn’t tell you where that onion cutter ended up. I never even opened the box. I may have given it to someone I thought would make good use of it. I don’t remember, I was too busy feeling gypped. My prize-winning experience had been ruined, so I decided it didn’t count. I would pretend it never happened until I won something a little more significant.

The wise shall inherit glory, but shame shall be the legacy of fools. ~ Proverbs 3:35 (NKJV)

On God rests my salvation and my glory; my mighty rock, my refuge is God. ~ Psalm 62:7 (ESV)

Humble yourselves with an attitude of repentance and insignificance in the presence of the Lord, and He will exalt you. He will lift you up and make your lives significant. ~ James 4:10 (AMPC)

Many times we write ourselves off as being insignificant, especially when we compare ourselves to others, our lives to the lives of others or our weaknesses to the strengths of others. The truth is that we all have significance. There is pre-determined glory assigned to each of our names that we need to take hold of. That can’t happen until we recognise that we are of great significance to God. This glorious significance must and will change our plans, our goals, the way we carry ourselves, how we talk and even who we talk to. It has to start somewhere though, our mindset and our decisions will either make room for or quench the glory of God that rests on our lives. I’ve done both. I know what it’s like to be completely clueless about the glorious significance within me, and I also know what it’s like to know and feel the weight of that glory growing with each passing day that I submit myself to God. In moments when I need reminding, these are the things I pay attention to. I hope that you find them helpful as you become more deliberate about carrying well the glory within you.

Place God where He ought to be

First and foremost, whenever we are tempted to forget our significance, we must take time to revere God for who He is. Our significance comes from God. The glory that we carry doesn’t belong to us, it is simply a reflection of the glory that is God. Whenever I forget who I am, I remind myself of who God is. Having the right perspective of Him gives me the right perspective of myself. I think of it as seeing my reflection in His eyes. That image is the truest image of who I am. When I haven’t had enough face time with my Father, I forget who I am and what I mean to Him. I’m sure you can agree that the same is true for you. If we can make it our practice to place God where He ought to be, counterfeit versions of who we are or who we ought to be won’t stick.

Don’t take yourself lightly

I have heard it said that we teach people how to treat us. This is so true, especially concerning our significance. If we believe we are insignificant, we will allow people to treat us as such. The real tragedy occurs when we reject people who treat us as valuable because we don’t believe we deserve it. The glory that God has assigned for your life to reflect has weight to it. If you disregard it, you will take yourself lightly and allow others to do the same. Fully appreciating who God designed you to be, involves honouring the weight of His glory on your life.

Recognise that the weight is equal to the glory

When I was in Bible school one of my lecturers explained that the average Christian will probably never see Jesus in a vision, or see angels or anything along those lines. She highlighted how because we have the Word of God and the Holy Spirit, such occurrences signify a need for reinforcements. In short what she meant was that if you did experience such visions and encounters, it is most probably to prepare you for something significantly big or trying down the road. She gave examples of cardinal people in the Faith who have shared such encounters and what they accomplished or had to endure for the sake of the Gospel. I remember sitting in class that day and thinking, “Lord, I’m good. I’ll see you when I see you.”

I say all this to illustrate how the weight on our lives is directly proportional to the glory God has assigned for us to reflect. When we experience certain challenges and trials in our lives, it is often because of that glory. I believe this is why James encourages us to count such difficulties as all joy. God has promised never to allow us to be tempted beyond what we can endure. Often we think of temptation only as a seduction towards sin. I believe that this is true, yes, and I also believe we can be tempted to doubt God, abandon our faith or disregard God’s glory. That being said, even though I know it may be hard to hear, the fact that you are enduring the trials you are means that God, who knows the end from the beginning, knows that the glory He deposited in you is up to the challenge. If we can assume the posture recommended by James, we can partner with God to wield those trials to highlight His glory. I know, there are days I wish this wasn’t the case too, but, we can do it! His grace is sufficient for us and His strength is made perfect in our weakness.

Remember that it’s not for you

The glory of God on you is not for you. When I think of this I am always taken back to a conversation I had with someone from the church after we lost our second baby. Her exact words were, “You are not going through this for yourself. It is so you can be used by God to help someone else.” I remember anger rising within me as I stared at her silently. She was certainly much wiser and had lived a lot more life than I had, so she knew exactly what she was talking about. I didn’t, I just wondered what the heck she meant and what kind of God needed to take such a long route just to help one of His other children. I now know, with intimate detail, what she meant. I now know that God didn’t bring about those loses, He was, however, not going to let us go through that for nothing. He was going to make that pain pay us and at the end of it all, His glory would be shown. We get to partake in that and use it to advance His kingdom. The same is true for you. You would be surprised who is watching you. The glory and significance of your life are for them. So don’t hide it! Boldly reflect the glory of God by standing tall in your significance to Him.

Though I believe not all prizes are created equal and there are some of more significance than others, this isn’t true of people. It’s not that there are people who have glory and people who don’t. We all have the glory of God on our lives, it’s that there are people who understand the significance of that glory and people who don’t. Which one are you? My challenge to you is to walk in humility, grounded in the fact that God is in His rightful place in your life. Esteem your significance enough to not take yourself lightly, appreciate the weight on your life and its announcement of the glory within you, and remember that though the glory may be in you and on you, it is not for you but for others.