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the weight of glory
the weight of glory
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Essay: The Weight of Glory
waste our time with trivial shadows. Lewis calls us “half-hearted creatures” who
make mud pies because we cannot bear to believe of anything better. Our There are
glorious rewards promised to God’s children, and in light of such glory we
perspective of reward is skewed. According to Lewis, proper rewards are the “activity
itself in consummation.” It is a reward of obedience. It seems a duty at first, like a
child learning Greek, but one day we will grow into the place of enjoying the reward.
We must remember, however that the reward is a promise, so our attention must be
fixed on the promise itself, not the passing shadows that distract us now.
The pleasures of this present time do not give us the reward. We can taste it through
them, so we must never confuse the taste with the fulfillment. That fulfillment is the
hope of a glory awaiting us. The glory is the pleasure of being praised by our Father,
of being loved in a way that we can hardly bear to fathom. Lewis calls this a weight
or burden of glory. It involves a measure bitterness because it is a desire not yet
fulfilled, and yet it is sweet because the promise is made by One who is true.
Our place is to shine. We desire to be bathed in beauty, to be fresh and pure like the
morning we experience. It will come one day, if we follow.
The path we follow is the path of the cross. It is the path of death. The glory will
never be experienced as long as we grasp for it. It is the weight of my neighbor’s
glory that I bear as well, a burden that will break me if I attempt to carry it with
pride. In humility I understand my neighbors bear the light of immortality. I am at
every moment assisting my neighbor in their destination to heaven or hell. My
contact daily is with immortals.
If I took this to heart and lived it, how drastically would my world change? It’s
sobering to realize the eternal consequences of human interaction.
waste our time with trivial shadows. Lewis calls us “half-hearted creatures” who
make mud pies because we cannot bear to believe of anything better. Our There are
glorious rewards promised to God’s children, and in light of such glory we
perspective of reward is skewed. According to Lewis, proper rewards are the “activity
itself in consummation.” It is a reward of obedience. It seems a duty at first, like a
child learning Greek, but one day we will grow into the place of enjoying the reward.
We must remember, however that the reward is a promise, so our attention must be
fixed on the promise itself, not the passing shadows that distract us now.
The pleasures of this present time do not give us the reward. We can taste it through
them, so we must never confuse the taste with the fulfillment. That fulfillment is the
hope of a glory awaiting us. The glory is the pleasure of being praised by our Father,
of being loved in a way that we can hardly bear to fathom. Lewis calls this a weight
or burden of glory. It involves a measure bitterness because it is a desire not yet
fulfilled, and yet it is sweet because the promise is made by One who is true.
Our place is to shine. We desire to be bathed in beauty, to be fresh and pure like the
morning we experience. It will come one day, if we follow.
The path we follow is the path of the cross. It is the path of death. The glory will
never be experienced as long as we grasp for it. It is the weight of my neighbor’s
glory that I bear as well, a burden that will break me if I attempt to carry it with
pride. In humility I understand my neighbors bear the light of immortality. I am at
every moment assisting my neighbor in their destination to heaven or hell. My
contact daily is with immortals.
If I took this to heart and lived it, how drastically would my world change? It’s
sobering to realize the eternal consequences of human interaction.