Today the Lord has given us gifts, and He wants us to apply the gifts and minister them to others. Nevertheless, many of us live carelessly on the earth and do not use our gifts. The Lord said that when He comes back, we will have to give an account before Him. At that time He may say to us, “Evil and slothful slave, be cast into the outer darkness” (Matt. 25:26-30). Therefore, there are two sides to this matter. Today pitiful Christianity teaches people only one side, telling people that once you believe in Jesus, His precious blood bears the full responsibility, and you are forgiven of all your sins. This is not wrong. However, the Lord Jesus forgives your sins in order that you may live in His life. If you do not live in His life, He will still need to deal with you, even though He has already forgiven you. He will settle the account with you at His coming back. This is clearly taught in the holy Scriptures.
Furthermore, 2 Corinthians 4:17 tells us that the momentary lightness of affliction which we suffer now for the Lord is working out for us, more and more surpassingly, an eternal weight of glory. Today if we endure sufferings for the Lord, this will increase the weight of glory that we will receive from the Lord. Romans 8:17 also says that if we suffer with the Lord, we will also be glorified with Him. These all prove that the degree of glory we are to receive in the future is built up by us today.
We thank the Lord that we have been regenerated. We have Him in us as our life and our supply. We daily receive from Him the supply for us to be metabolically transformed. Our being transformed in this way every day is our growth in life. And our growth in life is the building up of the degree of our glorification. If we have not been living out the glory of the Lord on the earth, how can we expect that He will suddenly put His glory upon us at His coming back? Therefore, today if we are living out God on the earth, God becomes the glory upon us. When the Lord comes back, He will say, “Well done, good and faithful slave....Enter into the joy of your master” (Matt. 25:23). This is to enter into glory.
I also am human like you. I often have weaknesses and failures, but I am always in fear and trembling. Often when a certain matter comes to me, I consider before the Lord whether this is what the Lord wants. What the Lord wants for us is to live Him out. He wants us to live Him out in difficult situations, and He wants us to live Him out also in smooth situations. The apostle Paul said, “For to me, to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21a). He also said, “According to my earnest expectation and hope that in nothing I will be put to shame, but with all boldness, as always, even now Christ will be magnified in my body, whether through life or through death” (v. 20). This magnification is the glory.
Regeneration is accomplished in our spirit, transformation is through our soul, and glorification is consummated in our body (John 3:6b; Rom. 12:2; 8:23, 30).
What is the glory of God? The glory of God is God Himself (Jer. 2:11), and the manifestation of God is the glory of God (Acts 7:2). When you live out God, that is the glory of God. That is the glory which grows out from the growth in life. The blooming of beautiful flowers does not come from above. Instead, it grows metabolically out from the elements of life within.
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