Weight of Glory: (in very short)

The premise is this, there is often a selfish feeling that through a hard event in one’s life, not of their causing, God will “teach” the one who perpetrated the offense against them “a good lesson through this”. One needn’t look far to see the human mind working overtime to stretch their logic around God’s, and once again we see the thread worn seams break open. The concept of “bad things don’t happen to good people” has been widely propagated and is far from biblical, with supporting reference after reference after reference. The alignment of the natural man’s mind is such that his economy and God’s have about as much in common as the act of falling and the act of flying. Both instances involve a body, one body who is whole and one body who is mere moments from being broken into many irreparable pieces. In said misalignment, there are certainties; success is not a listed outcome. Perhaps I must take a few steps backwards in order to take one step forward?

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“But a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness to him, and he cannot understand them, because they are spiritually appraised.”[i]

In setting a stage one requires a few key elements; our stage will be set through 1Corinthians 2:14 lens. There is a man, a natural man; his mind set could be referred to as ‘the crux’ of the passage. In this very thought process a brilliant concept is illustrated, firstly in the fact that as men they instinctively think it is about them, secondly it is not about him but he is limited in grasping this in several capacities.

According to Unger the natural man is, “…the unbeliever, who does not possess the Spirit (Jude 19)…”[ii] Unger’s choice to follow his surprisingly brief explanation of the natural man by referencing Jude 19 presents a very particular point in a very round about sort of way. The effort of Jude 19 is to warn people of the shape of the future. ““In the last time there shall be mockers, following after their own ungodly lusts.” These are the ones who cause divisions, worldly-minded, devoid of the Spirit.”[iii] Now at least one pointed question remains which Unger has yet to answer. What is to be made of ‘christians’ who behave as the picture Jude has painted? It is a menacing question that will not be properly sorted at present, but the seed of thought is required to properly cultivate one’s mind for considerations in Glory’s Weight as well as the state of man and his position to understand and accept said Weight. Suffice it to say, the natural man may well be the one’s ‘un-churched’ neighbor, yet it is plausible that the natural man is not as simple as the Joe average heathen on the street, more than likely an alarmingly large number of natural men attend church every Sunday, there are even a few who sing in the choir.

With a vague notion of who he is, let us now consider his ability to ‘understand,’ that is, his ability to discern the wisdom of God such as in Ephesians 4:18, Philippians 1:9, Colossians 1:9, Colossians 2:2-3, & Titus 1:1. It would seem the term ‘understanding’ is larger than one understanding that the light switch turns the wall sconce on and off; it is more akin to the electrical engineer’s mindset when he flips a light switch. Granted, the engineer does not sit and process through the entire set of reactions, one electron bumping into another and so on, each time he flips a switch, but he does understand, on a far deeper level than most, what is happening and why. It has been revealed to him. Reconsidered on a more particular level, the natural man’s understanding is of the Earth.[iv] As he receives and processes information he has but one lens to view it through, one mill to grind it with, which is the mortise of Earth. The fallen man will judge, after all what is perception if not a form of judgment, through all that he knows, “this small blue and green ball, spinning through its endless void”.

Now, not only has it not been or been revealed to him; but he has in turn accepted or rejected it. It is quite understandable for a natural man to reject something that he does not understand, therefore the inclusion of “a natural man does not accept the things of the Spirit of God” is doubtfully, actually, directed at the natural man. Potentially, this bridges a gap we have previously only gawked at; perhaps the statement of non-acceptance is not directed at the natural man? Now there’s a thought… A tenable argument could be made for it being directed at those who have sampled the understanding, who have learned some chapter of wisdom only to determine, “that is surely not my cup of tea, far too much losing of myself involved in that, it is fine for you Jack my boy, but for my money, I will stick with what I know. What’s that you say? Yes, fine, I will indulge you by pretending to ‘know’ what you ‘know’, but deep inside I find it a load of childish stories and far-fetched madness propagated by a lot of pompous do-gooders, war mongering demagogues and the like.” Perhaps, now be patient it is a working title; this is the, “The Modern ‘christian’ Man”.

Where a lack of desire for communion with God pervades, no communion with God will exist.

“For the mind set on the flesh is death, but the mind set on the Spirit is life and peace, because the mind set on the flesh is hostile towards God; for it does not subject itself to the law of God, for it is not even able to do so; and those who are in the flesh cannot please God.”[v]

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In reviewing Glory and its Weight the Christian must bear these mentioned conditions in mind. The natural man lives in a continuous state of delusion, a life governed by complete lack of truth is no life at all, it is mere chaos. Christians far too often find themselves grabbing at the life Jack was willing to give up, their idols are generally too dear to give up, or give up for long. In doing so, in loving idols, one will lose alignment with Truth, Wisdom, Understanding and Discernment, understandably for they are in complete disobedience with the greatest commandment. With the compass no longer pointing north things seem to become ‘easier’ but in time one finds they have become ever more difficult, truly difficult. The bent economy of the natural man slips back into the mind of the Christian much more subtly than most sins. A Christian realizes they are stumbling when they wake up Saturday morning in a pool of their own vomit, but the same Christian would not think twice about said gradual misalignment. The prince of the air dresses as an angle of light and is very cunning, this needs to be noted time and again.[vi]

To put skin on said misalignment, let one again visit with the wronged individual from the inception of this text. He stands with a misaligned heart, he stamps his foot on the ground, or in a worse case folds his hands, closes his eyes and prays aloud, “Oh God, I hope that You teach them a lesson for hurting me!” The second man, the Christian,[vii] he is not of this earth, he is of heaven and this is commanded to act as such and will act as such for fear of losing the one thing which he holds above all, his communion with his Maker.

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The second man is a blessed man. The promises he owns are beyond all expectations of the natural man.

“Therefore we do no lose heart, but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day. For momentary, light affliction is producing for us an eternal weight of glory far beyond all caparison, while we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen; for the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal.”[viii]

The second man understands he is blessed to be afflicted; he understands that in such moments his Maker is showing him an extra portion of Love. His Lord is taking a specific interest in the refinement of his and His being. He, the Maker, is producing the eternal weight of glory. One should notice, very near the last thought on the second man’s mind is “I hope that he (the wrong doer) is getting his!” the second man hasn’t time to be occupied with such natural things, he is far too busy being purified and produced!

“Blessed is a man who perseveres under trial; for once he has been approved, he will receive the crown of life, which the Lord has promised to those who love Him.”[ix]

Said crown has often been considered a prize given in the after life to those who have walked righteously, which no doubt is true. Yet, is it at all possible that the Maker gives us ‘crowns’ even as we walk about this fallen earth? It seems quite a valid conjecture given the process of sanctification and a lifetime of gleaned spiritual wisdom.

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(On a far more personal note: I know this man well. I know that one who has sought God’s vengeance on those who’ve ‘wronged him’. I also know that in his times of ‘being wronged’ LG has revealed Himself to him in ways he never before was open to; LG humbled him through ‘being hurt’, drew him in, comforted him, refined him, and produced a better, less natural man. When asking LG for refinement, one generally gets ‘more than they bargained for’, which they grumble about at the outset, but later value over all other treasures. Little by little, this man in who is hopefully truly in process, begins to approach hardship with a more aligned perspective. He begins to grumble less, be thankful more, and seek wisdom in the process, the time commonly known as ‘hard times’. As an earthly ‘crown’ he finds himself blessed beyond all measure that he is found worthy of LG to be used as an instrument for ministering to those around him who are in need.)

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[i] 1 Corinthians 2.14 New American Standard Bible.

[ii] Merril Unger, Unger’s Bible Handbook (Chicago: Moody Press, 1966), 628.

[iii] Jude 18 New American Standard Bible.

[iv] 1 Corinthians 15.47 New American Standard Bible.

[v] Romans 8.6 New American Standard Bible.

[vi] 2 Corinthians 11.14 New American Standard Bible.

[vii] 1 Corinthians 15:47 New American Standard Bible.

[viii] 2 Corinthians 4.16-19 New American Standard Bible.

[ix] James 1.12 New American Standard Bible.