Glorifying Ourselves (pt. 1)

I want glory. I have a friend who wants glory. Who doesn't? Often we go after glory, but it's the wrong kind of glory, and we pursue it in the wrong kind of way ultimately because of our faulty motivations that come from reprobate desires. Going after glory is a pretty ubiquitous thing across humanity. I believe it is true that in every human being is an inherent desire for glory. It's God-given. But it has been Satan-twisted.

Let's start here: We've been given a righteous desire for glory that the fall has perverted. People want glory and they try, we try, to acquire it through being exalted by others and exalting ourselves. We try to merit glory from others by impressive outward acts of: strength, alcohol consumption, perseverance, humor, morality, athleticism, god-talk, intelligence, serving others, owning the right stuff, generosity, mocking others, and a host of other reasons, some undeniably bad, others parading as good. The opinions of others are the hope upon which our glory rides. Often when people are not getting a convoluted imitation of glory from others, they look to themselves, their own self-image and self-talk to obtain glory. They base their glory on both their external and internal life. Then people are able to consider not only notable deeds worth glory, but their good motivations, what they're capable of, and how they compare to others. Both of these paths to glory are broad and futile.

Glory from other people and ourselves is shabby. It's dependent upon our own actions and how worthy of exaltation they are with respect to the actions of others and how worthy of exaltation their actions are. Because it's about doing things and being a person who is worthy of glorification above other people, it destroys our relationships with the rest of humanity. It's a glory that is constantly shifting up and down with the opinions of others and our view of ourselves. It is not something that is always there. On top of that, it's not even something that's really there.

The "glory" itself, as I've been calling it, is falsely called so. People by themselves are depraved, broken, insecure, foolish, envious, and sinful little creatures. Contracting glory from others simply means one is estimated, by people with poor judgment, to be better comparatively than other people, other - really not that good - people. It's an illusion of glory. There's nothing actual about it. Consequently, it does not satisfy. It leaves us always wanting more of it, always going after it in everything, and every time it leaves an emptiness and a longing for the glory that a part of us believes we should have.