I assume you are asking, “How can we make God’s glory our own?” Before we answer that question, it’s important to understand what we mean by “God’s glory.” I have always thought of God’s glory as “the shining forth of God’s attributes and moral excellences.” I think we all know that we could never take on God’s attributes of OMNISCIENCE, OMNIPOTENCE OR OMNIPRESENCE, for we will never be all-knowing, or have unlimited power, or be present everywhere at the same time. These attributes belong solely to God and He will never share them with anyone. Isaiah 42:8 bears this out, “I am the LORD, that is My name; I will not give My glory to another” (NASB). Yet we can indeed make God’s “moral excellences” our own; that is, we can partake of the same moral qualities that are inherent in God’s nature. Of course, in order for this to take place ONE MUST BE BORN AGAIN, for only then will we have God’s divine nature imparted to us. The Apostle Peter wrote of this in 2^nd Peter 1:2-4, “Grace and peace be multiplied to you in the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord; seeing that His divine power has granted to us everything pertaining to life and godliness, through the true knowledge of Him who called us BY HIS OWN GLORY AND EXCELLENCE. For by these He has granted to us His precious and magnificent promises, so that by them you may become PARTAKERS OF THE DIVINE NATURE, having escaped the corruption that is in the world by lust.” It is God’s “moral glory” that attracted us to Him in the first place and once we are born again we possess His very nature.

Perhaps a closer look at what we mean by “moral excellencies” is in order. Peter went on to exhort believers to grow spiritually in verses 5-8, “Now for this very reason also, applying all diligence, in your faith supply moral excellence…knowledge…self-control…perseverance…godliness…brotherly kindness…love.” These “moral qualities” remind us of the Apostle Paul’s words in Galatians 5:22-23, “But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, patience, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, gentleness, self-control.” One has said that this passage presents us with a “Portrait of Christ,” for the Lord Jesus manifested these moral qualities in everything He did and said, from the manger to the cross. And now it is the privilege of every born again believer, who possesses the very nature of Christ, to manifest these same moral qualities. And when we do, we are “showing forth the glory of God!”

It is vital that we know exactly how we “make these moral qualities our own.” It is true that by having God’s nature imparted to us we do “possess them,” but how do we allow them to be developed in us. In other words, how do we “grow spiritually?” We saw in 2^nd Peter 1:2 that these will “be multiplied to us in the knowledge of God and Jesus our Lord.” Peter’s last words in 3:18 emphasize this same truth, “But grow in the grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.” How does this take place? Ah, dear fellow-believer, the answer to this is the secret to a victorious Christian life. Peter gave us this answer in 1^st Peter 2:2, “As newborn babes, desire the pure milk of the word that you may grow thereby” (NKJV). There is no other way to grow spiritually (to develop the new nature we have been given); we MUST DESIRE THE WORD OF GOD! We must read it, meditate on it, make it our own, and then live in the power of the truth that we learn.

In closing, I would like to quote a favorite verse of mine that deals directly with our subject. I’m speaking of 2^nd Corinthians 3:18, “But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror THE GLORY OF THE LORD, are being transformed into the same image from GLORY TO GLORY, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.” As we study the Word of God, the Holy Spirit will put “the glory of the Lord” (His ‘moral glories’) before us and by His grace we will become MORE LIKE HIM! It is by occupation with Christ’s glory that this wonderful transformation will take place. Little by little, we will “possess God’s glory.”  (384.1)  (DO)