The Hope of Glory

This has been a thought of mine for some time now...to start a "blog". Not because I think I have so much to say or offer but actually because I just wanted to give our congregation an opportunity to have access to the "daily" life of our church and my ministry. Every day there are things that happen that I would like to share with many but there never seems to be a good way to do it. Sometimes they are prayer requests and other times they are Scriptures or articles that I read. And sometimes they are conversations or even "Divine" appointments that should be shared. So, I have decided to open this "blog" as an open "journal" of my ministry. I hope that you find it interesting and helpful.

I have chosen to title this blog - The Hope of Glory. Without preaching, I would like to explain why I have chosen this title. We have learned and are learning more every day about our purpose and why we exist! The best summary of our purpose is that we are here to "know God and enjoy Him". Rev. 4:11 tells us that we (all things) are made for His pleasure! We are here for Him and not the other way around. He is the Center of everything and everything revolves around Him. We are here to know God (have a personal relationship with Him) and bring Him glory! Our purpose on this earth is to make His Name great. To magnify who He is to everyone around us. To magnify doesnt mean to "make Him bigger than He is" but to bring to light just how big and awesome He really is. Just as we use a magnifying glass - not to make anything bigger, but to make it more visible to us so we can see it for what it truly is! This is what our lives are for - to magnify, honor, and glorify God. But there is a great problem with us achieving our purpose. It's called sin. Romans 3:23 says "for all have sinned and (therefore) fallen short of the glory of God". Our sin has ruined and tainted everything, including us achieving our purpose. This is a major problem and one that we cannot fix in and of our ownselves. But Corinthians tells us that we see 'the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ'. What God did for us is send His only Son, Jesus Christ. Jesus Christ came and achieved what we could not achieve. He lived the perfect life! Which means He lived His whole life for the glory of His Father. He always did what pleased the Father. His life was given to us as a substitute. He lived and died in our place! The Bible tells us that we must in repentance turn from our sins and by faith trust in His substituitionary life and death for us. Turning to God is no longer trusting in our own "person" and "works" to appease God but instead trusting in the "person" and "work" of Christ alone to pay the debt that we owed. He paid a debt that He did not owe because I owed a debt that I could not pay!

Now, once we have believed on the Lord Jesus Christ in this manner, the Bible says that we are new creatures in Christ (2 Cor. 5:17). This is the exchanged life. Christ on the cross became sin for us and He gave us His righteousness. This is how we can now stand before a perfect and holy God with confidence. Not because we are good enough. We could never be good enough. We would have to be perfect to be allowed to enter into the presence of God. It is not our own merits or good efforts that gets us in to Heaven but it is the righteousness of Christ that has been imputed (credited) to us. One of my favorite hymns says it this way:

because the sinless Savior died
my sinful soul is counted free
for God the just is satisfied
to look on Him and pardon me

So, back to the point of the title. How can sinners live for God's glory?? What could I ever do as mortal man that would bring glory to a Holy and Righteous God? Well, the verse in Colossians gives us the secret.

Col. 1:27 "Christ in you, the hope of glory"

What hope do we have to achieve the glory of God?? This verse tells us that it is Christ in you and Christ in me. The only way I can achieve my purpose of bringing glory to God is through the Spirit of Christ who lives in me.

This is why we have verses like Galatians 2:20
"I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ lives in me: and the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me."

So, the title of this blog is dedicated to the purpose of why I (and we) are here and how that purpose is accomplished. Each and every day that we awake I hope that this blog will be used to remind us that we are here to bring Him glory and while that may seem like a daunting task, it is actually possible because of the life of Christ that lives in you and me.

I pray that this blog will be a living journal of the life of Christ living in me each and every day!

For His Glory,

Pastor Jerry Croyts