Glory!

There is a longing inside every man and woman to recapture the glory that seems to escape us in this sad and fallen world of sickness, corruption, betrayal, addiction, harsh bosses and broken relationships.
Perhaps like no other holiday, Christmas captures this longing for glory.
This is the time of year when we express our longing for that glory in parties and family gatherings, where presents are given and families come together to eat and drink while enjoying warm feelings and fond memories.
It is a time of year when we try to be kind to one another, when nations call Christmas truces and we wish for a moment of good will and peace to all. We express this in the songs we sing, the good feelings we enjoy and the holiday movies we watch with heart-warming endings.
These all express our longing for glory, and are a small foretaste of the true, eternal glory that arrived with Christ’s first advent and will be consummated for all eternity at his second advent.
But true eternal glory is only possible in Jesus Christ.
Only Christ fulfills our longing for glory, because only He can restore the glory we lost.
We lost the glory of God in the Garden of Eden. That’s right, we lost the glory of God in paradise. The bible teaches us that God intended us for glory, and that it was experienced by Adam and Eve where they ruled over God’s creation under His kind and good rule.
But Adam and Eve decided to go their own way – they rebelled against Him, lost the glory of God and received the just punishment for their rebellion, death.
Ever since then, we have been laboring under the curse of death, longing for the glory and life of God.
Here’s the good news – God promised Adam and Eve that He would one day restore that glory through a Savior who would crush the head of evil. That Savior is none other than Jesus Christ whose advent, or coming, we celebrate this Christmas season.
Glory is the theme of our advent sermon series this Christmas season at Palm Vista Community Church. It’s God’s glory that we were created for, and that we lost at the fall in the Garden of Eden and it’s God’s glory that Jesus recaptured.
We invite you to come hear more at our Christmas service December and 23, at 10:30 a.m. in the Miami Lakes Middle School auditorium, located at 6425 Miami Lakeway North.