What is meant by we are fallen short of God´s Glory? What actually is God´s Glory?
The verse you are referencing is Romans 3:23 which says, “For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God.” This is a verse that the Lord has used to convict many people of their sinful state before Him. “ALL HAVE SINNED.” It could not be clearer, could it? Every single person who ever lived has sinned. Romans 3:19 tells us that the whole world stands “guilty before God.” Who can deny this truth? Who can stand and honestly say, “I have never sinned”? No one can say that. If they do, we know they are not being honest…which is a sin!
Because of our sins, we all have “come short of the glory of God.” To ‘come short’ means that we missed the mark of attaining God’s glory. We fall short because all our efforts to please the Lord and save ourselves are useless. It shows that because of sin in our lives, we are not able to please the Lord. We ‘fall short’ in that.
We fall short of the ‘glory of God’, or the approbation or praise of God. We cannot earn the praise or approval of God. He is absolutely pure and righteous. We are far from that. There is absolutely nothing we can do to please the Lord. Every man sins. Every man falls short.
However, there is a way to attain this ‘glory of God.’ It is not something we ACHIEVE. It’s something we RECEIVE when we BELIEVE. Romans 6:23 says, “For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.” We have seen that we ALL have sinned. Now we see the proper wages for our sin: DEATH. This is what is rightly owed to us; we have earned it. Rather than ‘pay us our wages’, the Lord would rather give us a GIFT. That gift is eternal life and it comes through putting our faith in the Lord Jesus Christ as our Lord and savior. We read in Ephesians 2:8-9, “For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves: IT IS THE GIFT OF GOD: Not of works, lest any man should boast.” All mankind has come short of receiving the praise of God. EVERYONE. However, through this amazing love, work, and generosity of the Lord, we can have eternal life! Romans 10:9-10 tells us, “That if thou shalt confess with thy mouth the Lord Jesus, and shalt believe in thine heart that God hath raised him from the dead, thou shalt be saved. For with the heart man believeth unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation.”
Upon putting our faith in the Lord Jesus, we are declared righteous and holy by God. Such is the value of the precious blood of His dear Son that it can wash us ‘white as snow.’ Romans 5:1-2 says, “Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ: By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” Having been justified by faith in the Lord Jesus, we have peace with God. Blessed reality! Formerly, we had ‘come short’ of the glory of God. Now, as believers on the Lord Jesus, we “rejoice in hope of the glory of God.” We long to see our Lord and be in His presence. What we could not achieve, we now look forward to. How precious it would be to hear the Lord say to us on that day, “Well done, good and faithful servant.” (Matthew 25:23) How wonderful to know that we can indeed please the Lord and in that, we bring honor and glory to the Lord. The day will declare it when the Lord actually does praise us as we read in 1 Corinthians 4:5, “Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord come, who both will bring to light the hidden things of darkness, and will make manifest the counsels of the hearts: AND THEN SHALL EVERY MAN HAVE PRAISE OF GOD.” (221.2)