This one's for the resolution-makers

If you're spending this week shaping your New Year's resolutions, the heavenly messengers we find in Luke 2 have some very practical guidance:

“Glory to God in the highest heaven, and on earth peace to those on whom his favor rests." (Luke 2:14)

I realize we're used to this statement as a warm greeting in our Christmas cards, not as concrete guidance for our lives. We want something that tells us what to do and what to abstain from. Give us something that increases our earthly efficiency in getting where we want to go.

If you look closely, that's all here.

Careful what you wish for

I'd anticipate you have some history of aiming for the same thing I've aimed for in making resolutions: glory.

It's a mistake, and our angel friends can help us understand further.

Who better to help us find the proper home for glory than the angels? If there's one thing the angels know about, it's glory. No, not their glory. God's glory. The angels constantly dwell in the glory of God. They know something we have a difficult time grasping: it's not for human consumption.

Consider the magnitude of glory these angels deal with:

• Isaiah 6 - Isaiah's vision of the train of God's robe filling the temple caught a glimpse of glory, as the angels sang, "Holy, holy, holy is the Lord Almighty; the whole earth is full of his glory." The closest human description I can find of the scene is something along the lines of nuclear.

• 2 Kings 19 - The Assyrian king Sennacherib made the mistake of thinking his glory would be enough to overcome the people of God - until he collided with the glory of God. In one night, the angel of the Lord would destroy 185,000 of Sennacherib's army, and send him to his death.

• Exodus 33 - As the glory of God passed by Moses, he had to be shielded from it in order to live. Across the Old Testament, glory makes numerous appearances, and humans repeatedly have to be shielded or protected from it. Think along the lines of getting too close to the sun.

• Daniel 4 - Nebuchadnezzar thought he wanted glory - and that he'd even attained it. He found out the hard way who glory actually belongs to.

I have a hunch these angels would urge us to think twice about the human desire to have glory.

Only one human being could rightly handle and embody the very glory of God, and he was lying in a lowly nearby manger as the angels proclaimed, "Glory to God in the highest heaven..."

A better alternative

Fortunately for us, the angels don't brush our hands away from grabbing after God's glory without redirecting us to God's provision: peace.

This peace is what people who chase glory are really after. The problem is that as long as they chase glory, peace eludes them. Why? That insatiable human appetite for more. We've all been there. We think we'll find contentment upon reaching a level, a place, a position. But when we arrive there?

"More."

The angels are wonderful allies to us as they speak of peace. It's to say to us, "You think you want more glory, but you have a problem. You could get it and still fall short of the Holiness of God. Implication? Your soul will never rest from the idea you always need to reach, attain, and be more glorious than you are."

But to entrust yourself to that baby in the manger? That would bring peace.

• Peace that he embodies the glory of God, and not only do we not have to be shielded from it, but that this glorious Savior wants greater proximity to us.

• Peace that he provides the contentment and fulfillment we think our own glory would bring.

• Peace that when God looks upon us, his heart is filled with favor and goodwill toward us.

This glory-embodied-in-humanity could've arrived as separate, unapproachable, and inaccessible. But notice the description is Savior, hence the angelic proclamation of favor and goodwill toward all of us.

As we look toward 2023, we must ask ourselves: Am I after glory? Or am I after peace?

The life that overlooks the Savior produces neither.

But the life that embraces the Savior? It produces both.

Wishing you a glory-giving and peace-filled new year,

Nathan

*Please note: The weekly 'Note from Nathan' will be on hiatus until mid-January. Looking forward to sharing more soon!