More often than not, the full glory of a thing is not readily apparent at first glance. It is hidden beneath the surface. Glory comes out through a process that inevitably and permanently alters its container. Consider an orange, for example. What is the true glory of an orange? Its bright orange color? Its roundness? The tex- ture of its peel? Although each of these characteristics helps us dis- tinguish an orange from other kinds of fruit, none of them reveals its full essence. The true glory of an orange is its juice.
1. Geoffrey Chaucer, “The Knight’s Tale,” l. 2406, The Canterbury Tales, quoted in John Bartlett, Bartlett’s Familiar Quotations, 16th ed., Justin Kaplan, ed. (New York: Little, Brown and Company, 1992), p. 130:20.
How do we get juice from an orange? The only way is to cut open the orange and squeeze the juice out. That process perma- nently alters the qualities and appearance of the orange. It is impossible to get orange juice without changing the orange. There is no way to bring out the glory of an orange without squeezing it.
In a similar way, God’s glory in us is not always readily appar- ent because it is hidden inside these “jars of clay” that we call our bodies. Bringing out that glory will permanently change the jars containing it.
God’s purpose for us is that we become what He created us to be so that His glory hidden in our “jars of clay” can shine forth and bring the light of His true nature to a blind and dark world. In Matthew 5:48 Jesus charged us to “Be perfect, therefore, as your heavenly Father is perfect.” You will remember from Chapter Four that the word perfect in this verse means “complete” or “mature.” We are to be complete and mature just like our heavenly Father: “like Father, like son (or daughter).” The challenge we face is knowing how to become complete. How do we grow to maturity in Christ?
Part of the answer comes in learning simply to trust God to fin- ish what He started. In his letter to the Philippians, Paul encour- ages us to “[be] confident of this, that He who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Phil. 1:6). What God has begun, He will complete. Having called us to salvation in Christ, God will bring us to full maturity in our faith, provided we learn to yield, follow, and obey Him. This is part of what it means to humble ourselves before the Lord. God’s part is to bring us to maturity in Christ; that’s why He gave us the Holy Spirit. Our part is to listen, trust, and obey. In the rich environ- ment of this relationship, God will bring out His glory that resides within us.
One important principle of maturity that we need to under- stand is that growth occurs only as we overcome resistance and obstacles. Tests and trials will come—they are an inescapable part
of life—and they will make us or break us depending on our atti- tude toward them. We tend to complain about our trials, but God wants to use them to strengthen us and bring us to maturity. Listen to the wise words of James:
Consider it pure joy, my brothers, whenever you face tri- als of many kinds, because you know that the testing of your faith develops perseverance. Perseverance must fin- ish its work so that you may be mature and complete, not lacking anything….Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love Him (James 1:2-4;12).
We can look on our trials with joy when we learn to see beyond the trials themselves to God’s purpose to use them to build us up. Tests of our faith develop perseverance, and perseverance leads to maturity and completeness. The climax of this process is when we receive God’s promised “crown of life”—the completion of our sal- vation when we are ushered into God’s presence forever.
Regarding this salvation, Peter writes:
In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire— may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed. Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and even though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and are filled with an inex- pressible and glorious joy, for you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls (1 Peter 1:6-9).
According to Peter, trials refine and purify our faith like fire refines gold. Just as fire burns out the impurities in gold, making it more valuable than before, trials temper and prove the genuineness
of our faith. The result of faith tested and proven in this way is “praise, glory, and honor.”