The Glory You Are Already Carrying

Feeling far from God is not proof that you are far from God. Usually it is just a feeling that turned up after a hard week and started talking louder than the truth.

Colossians 1:27 says, "To whom God would make known what is the riches of the glory of this mystery among the Gentiles; which is Christ in you, the hope of glory." Paul calls it a mystery because nobody in the Old Testament saw it coming. God above them, God with them, but not God inside them.

Christ in you. Not near you on the days you behave, not dropping in on Sundays. In you, right now, on the ordinary Tuesday where nothing feels spiritual at all.

That is why Hebrews 13:5 can say, "for he hath said, I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." Loneliness is real and it still shows up. But it is not a status report on where God is.

So how does anyone actually change? 2 Corinthians 3:18 says, "But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." We are changed, not we change ourselves. It happens by looking at Him, and the Spirit does the work. That takes the pressure off every list you made about becoming a better Christian.

God is not standing at a distance waiting for you to climb up to Him. He moved in. The glory you keep asking Him to send is already living at your address.