Glory Goes Both Ways

“so that the name of our Lord Jesus may be glorified in you, and you in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.” — 2 Thessalonians 1:12 (ESV)

As Christians, we talk a great deal about glorifying God, and for good reason!

We sing His praises, worship Him, give thanks for His goodness and seek to live in ways that bring glory to His name. We put God the Father and Jesus on an unassailable pedestal – they are beyond compare, above all, and mighty. Quite rightly, we herald and hail them as being, as I would say: a big deal.

One of the many, many fascinating things I’ve come to learn since becoming a Christian, however, is that it’s not just God who is a big deal. You are, too – you, we, I – His children, are a big deal.

Let’s get this nailed at the beginning – we aren’t God’s equal. We can’t chase that goal, and any pursuit of it is futile. As Romans 3:23 explains, we have all sinned and fall short of the glory of God. That’s true enough.

But we are a big deal, nonetheless.

Indeed, there is something extraordinary in Paul's words to the Thessalonians that really drives that home: he prays not only that Jesus Christ will be glorified in us, but that we will be glorified in Him.

The reverence and adoration we rightly direct towards God needn't come at the expense of recognising our own extraordinary worth. We can celebrate His greatness while recognising the significance He has given us. Basically: glory goes both ways.

We can become so focused on the greatness of God that we forget something equally remarkable about our relationship with Him: we matter, too. The God who created the heavens and the earth, whose greatness stretches beyond anything we could ever comprehend, considers us important – not just humanity collectively, but each of us as individual human beings.

As I shared in a recent passage on Judgement, we as humans upped the ante of creation. Genesis 1:26–31 tells us that humanity was made in God's image and that, having created human beings, God looked at everything He had made and saw that it was very good. We have an extraordinary place within His creation.

Our worth is not something we have to earn through worship, service or good deeds. It is not determined by our achievements, our reputation or the approval of others. We are created in God's image, and there is extraordinary significance in that alone.

Psalm 8:3–5 captures this beautifully. The psalmist looks at the heavens and wonders why God should be mindful of humanity at all, yet he goes on to describe human beings as crowned with glory and honour.

We are not an insignificant afterthought in God's creation. We are not here merely to acknowledge His greatness while considering ourselves unworthy of His attention. We are people whom He has made, whom He knows and whom He loves.

And when we glorify God, we need not diminish ourselves in the process. Recognising our own worth does not take anything away from His greatness. Indeed, it is God Himself who has given us that worth.

There is something wonderfully humbling, yet profoundly uplifting, about knowing that we are important to the God we worship. We spend so much of our lives seeking recognition, hoping to be valued and wanting to know that we matter. Yet what greater recognition could there possibly be than knowing that we matter in the eyes of the Creator Himself?

So yes, let us glorify God with everything we have. Let us worship Him, praise Him and celebrate His greatness to a level far beyond all else.

But let us never forget that the God we glorify has also given us extraordinary worth.

We are a big deal to God – and if anything is a big deal to God, it's a big deal indeed.

Questions for Reflection

1. Do you ever lose sight of how a loving God sees you and question your true worth?
2. How does knowing that you matter deeply to God affect the way you see yourself?
3. How might recognising the God-given worth of others change the way you treat them?