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Pastor Nathaniel Gamble
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Pastor's Blog January 21, 2019
”Give to the Lord Glory”
{Scroll over scripture reference to read the scripture or reference.
In 1 Chronicles 16:29, believers are told, "Give to the Lord the glory due His name; bring an offering, and come before Him. Oh, worship the Lord in the beauty of holiness!" (NKJV). The context of this passage is a song praising God for all the saving acts he has done on behalf of his people. Ancient Israel was invited to sing to the Lord, which would serve to proclaim the "good news of His salvation" to the nations (vv. 23-24); likewise, they were encouraged to remember that only the Lord is God and the Creator of all things, and that all other so-called gods are simply idols (vv. 25-27). Because God created everything in honor, majesty, strength, and gladness (v. 27), believers are summoned to give glory to him (v. 28) and worship God "in the beauty of holiness" (v. 29). But in the midst of this summons, this passage emphasizes two things about beauty and holiness.
First, it calls the believer to worship God in holiness. The word for "beauty" in this passage literally means "an adornment or ornament," which suggests that holiness is something that beautifies the life and is to be "worn"; as far as this verse is concerned, holiness is only truly holiness when it makes the life beautiful - when it makes the life more like God.
This realization leads to the second emphasis of the passage: holiness is the beauty of God, is the demonstration of God's beauty. God's holiness is his beauty, and what makes God beautiful is the fact that he is holy. Because of this truth, any holiness which the believer enjoys comes from God.
When this passage calls the believer to worship God in the beauty of holiness, it is calling the believer to adorn him or herself with God's own beauty: his holiness, rather than our own (which isn't holy or beautiful).
Today, as we worship God, let us focus on how beautiful God is and how beautiful he makes us in Christ. God's holiness is not his way of being unapproachable or unrelateable; instead, God's holiness is his way of beautifying us and enabling us to worship him. And this is good news.