53. Glow for God (1)

God is gracious and good. Even after the Israelites worshipped a gold calf, God forgave them and patiently wrote the Ten Commandments again on two stone tablets for them. He called Moses up to Mount Sinai and Moses spent forty days and forty nights in the presence of God. God called Moses 'His Friend'.

'…the Lord would speak to Moses face to face, as a man speaks to his friend.' Exodus 33:11

'And the Lord replied to Moses, "I will indeed do what you have asked, for you have found favor with Me, and You are My friend." Exodus 33:17

And when Moses returned to the people after speaking to God his face glowed from being in God's presence.

'When Moses came down the mountain carrying the stone tablets inscribed with the terms of the covenant, he wasn't aware that his face glowed, because he had spoken to the Lord face to face. And when Aaron and the people of Israel saw the radiance of Moses' face, they were afraid to come near him.' Exodus 34:29, 30 'When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil over his face. But whenever he went into the Tent of Meeting to speak with the Lord, he removed the veil until he came out again. Then he will give the people whatever instructions the Lord had given him, and the people would see his face aglow. Afterward he would put the veil on again until he returned to speak with the Lord." Exodus 34:33-35

I was so jealous when I read this! How wonderful to speak to God face to face, to be called His Friend and to be aglow from His presence. But I quickly realized that all of these things are possible for us too. Jesus calls us His friends too. We are even more than that, we are His brothers and sisters, children of the Most High! We are part of His body and through Jesus, we can communicate with God face to face and by spending time with Him we can glow and radiate His goodness for the whole world to see. After all the Holy Spirit, which is God Himself, lives inside of us and wants to radiate His goodness out from within us! Paul clearly states this in 2 Corinthians 3:7,8,18

'The old system of law etched in stone led to death, yet it began with such glory that the people of Israel could not bear to look at Moses' face. For his face shone with the glory of God, even though the brightness was already fading away. Shouldn't we expect far greater glory when the Holy Spirit is giving life? All of us have had that veil removed so that we can be mirrors that brightly reflect the glory of the Lord. And as the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like Him and reflect His glory even more.'

What an amazing statement. We can glow just like Moses did, and we can glow even more, because we have the fullness of the Holy Spirit living inside of us and we are part of Jesus' Body. So why is it that we don't see it that often? I must say I have met people who really radiated God's love and goodness, but they are very few and far between. So now I ask myself the question, because I don't see it in my life either. And I think the answer is that we love this world too much and we don't live in the reality of the heavenlies on a daily basis. But let me talk about that next week. For now, know that it is possible to glow and to shine God's glory for all to see!

Father, please forgive us that we are not the mirrors that You intend us to be. Please lead us on Your pathway and help us to shine Your love out for all to see. At the end of the day we know that that is our main purpose in life. Please help us to live up to it. In Jesus Name. Amen

2 comments for “53. Glow for God (1)”

  1. Gravatar of RonelleRonelle
    Posted Friday, 07 June 2013 at 8:15:37 AM

    Thank you, Ilze, for making us think about being instruments through which the love of God can be shown to people around us. So that they are compelled to ask: "What have you got that I don't have?"

  2. Posted Monday, 17 June 2013 at 2:30:01 PM

    What an amazing statement. We can glow just like Moses did, and we can glow even more.

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