MAY 31

Corporate worship rescues us again and again by reminding us that there is only one glory worth giving our lives to—the glory of God.

Life really is all about what glory attracts your eyes and captures your heart. This is true because, as human beings, we’re all glory junkies. We all live for glory in some way. We love the glory of that trophy fish attacking the lure or of those stunning red platform shoes. We like experiencing the glory of a brand-new house or running the fastest mile we have ever run. We love watching mind-bending feats of danger or glorious artistic achievements. We can’t get enough of the beauty of the tiger’s coat or the multihued stripes of the sunset. One bite of chocolate glory is not enough for us and one promotion doesn’t satisfy our hearts. The beautiful watch, the cool car, the best taco, the well-designed golf course, the perfectly appointed kitchen, and the stunning piece of music all get our attention and leave us wanting more.

But these glories were created and placed in our lives for a purpose. All of the glories of the physical created world serve this one purpose—to remind us of and point us to the glory of God. We were never meant to live for earthbound glory. We were never meant to seek peace and satisfaction of heart here. We were never meant to offer the desires and allegiance of our hearts to what God made. The physical world is wonderfully glorious, but it was never meant to be our stopping point any more than the sign that points to something is meant to be the end of the journey.

Here’s what you and I need to remember about signs. The sign is not the thing; the sign points you to the thing. The same can be said of physical creation. It is not the thing that you were made to live for. It was made to point you to the thing you were made to live for, and that thing is God and God alone. How sad it is when a person looks for what can’t be found in something that cannot deliver! But many, many people do this every day. They look to created glory to find what cannot be found there.

Yes, God has filled your life with glories of many kinds. There is never a day when you aren’t greeted by those glories. But it is vital to remember that the glories that surround you every day in the world that God made are not meant to be your stopping point, because you were created to live for a greater, more glorious glory— the glory of God. Thankfully, you have corporate worship, the regular gathering of the people of God for worship, to remind you of this truth. Worship helps you see once more that it is only when you live for God that your heart finds the peace, satisfaction, and security that it seeks. And it is only God’s glory that has the power to rescue you from all the earthbound glories that so easily capture your heart.

For further study and encouragement: Ecclesiastes 2:1–11

Taken from New Morning Mercies: A Daily Gospel Devotional by Paul Tripp, © 2014, pp. 132-162. Used by permission of Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers, Wheaton, IL 60187, www.crossway.org.