Splendor

I talk of blessings and trials and routine adventures and include analogies that reference Christ and how he has called me to deal with one thing or another but this morning, one word popped into my head...splendor. Splendor, I thought for a minute, why splendor? I looked up the definition, then went to the bible for references, and this is what I found: Splendor is a brilliance or gorgeous appearance, coloring etc. It is grandeur, glory or brilliant distinction. It is majesty that goes beyond our sense of normality. A set apart condition.

How many times, I thought, have I really considered the splendor of our Lord? The set apart grace that he provides, the holy majesty that represents his existence, the heights of his wisdom and understanding, the depths of his love and compassion? I get tangled up in worldly aesthetics, and forgo the magnificence of a relationship that has been offered to me by one who is steeped in splendor on all fronts. I settle for mediocre when I have been offered excellence. I am content to be grounded in earthly paths instead of allowing God to lift me to his greater heights.

When I consider the word splendor from my simple vantage point...I do think of royalty and pomp. Oh but when I place splendor as a defining word for my Lord, it is hardly something to even be able to grasp.
There was one verse, actually there were two verses that caught my attention when I looked up the word splendor in the bible.
The first was:
Luke 12:27
"Consider how the wild flowers grow. They do not labor or spin. Yet I tell you, not even Solomon in all his was dressed like one of these."

It is such a comparison to me of earthly things versus spiritual things and creations that God alone can produce. We get hooked into bowing down to the earthly things.

The second is this:
I Chrionicles 16:29
"Ascribe to the LORD the glory due his name; worship the LORD in the splendor of his holiness."

When I pray, I realize that too many times I tend to try to lower God to my level. To bring him down to me instead of climbing up to him. He is to be honored and worshiped and praised in the splendor of his holiness.

I am not gonna get preachy on this, but this whole deal of splendor has caught my attention this morning. It matters not how big our trials are or how weak our human capabilities are, or how frail our emotions are, it is in the quest for the presence of the splendor of Christ that we will find an uplifted spirit of peace. It is the heights of infinite splendor that Christ abides. The splendor of his grace, his wisdom, his love, his creation, his overriding authority of our lives and his infinite capacity to bring us to himself.

May the splendor of our Lord fall upon us this day. And may the reflection of his glorious presence abide in our hearts. Amen


Praise God wherever you are and whatever situation He has allowed you to be in . . . His glory will shine through!