I enjoy tennis. And I want to continually improve because it brings some joy to hit the ball well instead of hitting it over the fence. Also, playing well allows me to compete with others without being embarrassed and enjoy the competition. So I am motivated to improve and I am willing to sacrifice for it. Awhile ago I wanted to improve my forehand stroke by practicing with a ball machine. When I finally had time I checked the weather – it wasn’t good. It was cold and windy which is not good weather for standing and hitting balls from a ball machine. Should I go? I debated briefly but I decided to go. I was willing to sacrifice comfort for the sake of improving my forehand. In fact it was cold and miserable and I spent about 20 minutes of my 60 minutes setting up and taking down the ball machine. Yet I was glad I went because it prepared me for something in the future I looked forward to.
Our spiritual life is like that too. If we can focus on the future God has for us we will be willing to make sacrifices when we need to. Colossians 3;2-5a states: “Set your minds on things that are above, not on things that are on earth. For you have died, and your life is hidden with Christ in God. When Christ who is your life appears, then you also will appear with him in glory. Put to death therefore what is earthly in you.” (ESV) In this passage we notice that the motivation to “set our minds on things above” and “put to death therefore what is earthly” is the fact that “our life is hidden with Christ” and when he “appears then you also will appear with him in glory.” God gives us joy and peace now but the ultimate motivation to follow Jesus is that he is coming and he will make us beautiful and perfect and we will be with him; this is the glory we will have with him.
Since this is supposed to be a big motivator in our life, let’s take a closer look at this glory.
In Revelation 19:8 we learn that the Bride of the Lamb (i.e., believers) will be “bright”. This is a significant theme for believers in the New Testament and I refer to this theme as “luminosity”. The glorification of believers is a major New Testament theme and this is one aspect of that theme. I suspect that when scripture mentions the glorification of believers, which it does often, luminosity is implied.
God wants his saints to literally shine, and to shine in a way that is almost blinding. I have found this mentioned two other times in the New Testament. Jesus states it plainly in Matthew 13:43: “Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.” (This is an allusion to Daniel 12:3: “And those who are wise shall shine like the brightness of the sky above.”) The third mention is in Revelation 21:11 where John saw the new Jerusalem (the Bride) coming out of heaven “having the glory of God, its radiance like a most rare jewel, like a jasper, clear as crystal.”
“God wants his saints to literally shine, and to shine in a way that is almost blinding. “
Moreover, it is interesting that in Matthew’s account of the transfiguration he uses the same vocabulary about Jesus as he did about believers in 13:43 quoted above. In Matthew 17:2 Jesus’ face “shone like the sun”. When that observation is combined with the New Testament theme of Christformation it makes us wonder if Jesus’ transfiguration is a precursor of our luminosity. For example, I Corinthians 15:49 states that we shall “bear the image of the heavenly man”. Philippians 3:21 promises that Jesus “will transform our lowly body to be like his glorious body.” Thus, it is reasonable to think that we will shine like Jesus did at his transfiguration.
Human luminosity is sometimes used in media to indicate someone who is in a spiritually elevated state. For example, in the movies someone might have a halo of light around them to show that they are connecting to the spiritual world. It seems that there is an attraction to the idea that humans may physically shine brightly. For me it feels like there is some dim understanding in my heart (as well as in all human hearts) that we were meant to shine – and the thought of it brings a deep satisfaction. And it motivates me to learn to love people like Jesus did and make a difference in this world.
