lifefullyinhabited

Leaves and Glory

^“3 And even if our gospelis veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. ⁴ The godof this age has blinded  the minds of unbelievers, so that they cannot see the light of the gospel that displays the glory of Christ,   who is the image of God.   ⁵ For what we preach is not ourselves,   but Jesus Christ as Lord,   and ourselves as your servants   for Jesus’ sake. ⁶ For God, who said, “Let light shine out of darkness,”   made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of God’s glory displayed in the face of Christ. ^” 

2 Corinthians 4:3-6

I am convinced that even “believers” can have their vision “veiled”, and a veiled believer is often a dangerous person.  We can believe in Jesus as our Saviour and become blinded by many so-called gods of this age.  Especially the god of self-righteousness.  Or the god of self-pity.  Or the god of materialism.  You get the idea.

Autumn is a wonderful time to do a heart check.  Am I blinded or veiled by anything that takes away from the glory of God reflecting in my life?

As the leaves around us turn from calming green to blazing glory, we can assess the “leaves” in our own lives.  What am I “leaving” behind me?

The psalmist says “surely goodness and mercy shall follow me all the days of my life”.  What’s following you?  Is your path strewn with goodness and mercy, which brings glory to God?  Or is the path behind you strewn with people you’ve wounded with judgements and criticism?

Sometimes we can get caught up in running from Bible study to church, to conferences, to seminars.  Just gluttonizing on the scriptures and knowledge.  And we never give back or share or let God really use our lives, broken and spilled out for Him.

All those green green growing leaves, which are not necessarily bad.  Until stresses hit unawares.  Like leaves on a tree that don’t change from green to glory, when the frost hits, those leaves turn black and whither, never reavealing the beauty underneath the green.  Leaves that turn from green to glory survive the frost better and the glory is the broken, spilled out golden blazing hues.

I want my life to reveal God’s glory, not my own.  It’s not easy.  But every time I turn toward God even just a little bit, the veil is brought down.

Every time I have a challenging situation or person to deal with, when I turn toward God, the veil is removed.  And His glory blazes like the sugar maple in full autumnal splendor.