Amos 1-3

Revelation 6

“Although they claimed to be wise, they became fools and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images made to look like a mortal human being and birds and animals and reptiles.” —Romans 1:22-23

As we read through Scripture, we can see that humanity has a problem. Paul diagnoses the problem in Romans 1 as we have exchanged the glory of God to bow down to the glory of what our hands have made; we exchanged the truth and reality of God for a lie. In biblical times, people would cast an image out of wood, stone or precious metals and bow down before the statue they made. In our present day, although we may not bow down to a statue, we bow down to what our hands have made in our ingenuity, our industry and our innovations. We allow the trends of culture to determine what is true. The world runs after these things until they find it empty and then they move on to the next thing, exchanging the fullness of God for something lesser and settling for a false glory that gives the illusion of happiness.

When I was the Executive Director of Urban Promise, part of my job was to go and meet people who could support the ministry. I was often invited to Bay Street—kind of like the Wall Street of Canada—to meet with some extremely wealthy and successful individuals. I remember going to a meeting on the top floor of a financial building, where it had floor-to-ceiling windows with one of the most breathtaking views of the city.

As we were having lunch, I started to share stories of what was happening in our ministry with Urban Promise. The communities that Urban Promise worked with were at the opposite end of the spectrum of the crowd that I was speaking to. But as I was sharing stories about the work of God in the midst of difficult communities and how God was touching and transforming people, there was a stillness in the boardroom. People were moved by what they were hearing because many of them had not experienced something like that before.

What this showed me is that we can have everything that this world has to offer—all the money, the success, the power—but if we do not have the glory of God, we can be unbelievably empty on the inside. Beneath the surface of individuals whom we deem as having it all was emptiness as they listened to what God was doing in communities that were at the opposite end of the spectrum.

Humanity was designed with the unique ability to recognize and worship glory. Nothing less than the fullness of God will truly satisfy that need. Without the real glory of God, our lives inevitably turn into a downward spiral of disappointment—that disappointment leads to frustration and eventually that frustration brings madness.

Dear God, thank You for everything that I have in life. Whether I have abundance, reputation or status, the

only thing that matters in my life is Your presence in it. Amen!