John 11:5

"'This sickness is not unto death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God may be glorified through it.'"

What isn't unto the glory of God aside from acts of sin? Even then, transgressions are not immune from being used unto the glory of God. The ultimate culmination of all sin is that it leads to death for all, and yet iniquity and its final demise can and often does somehow glorify God, if not now, then certainly in the after-now. On the surface these are crazy ideologies, ones that are simply counter-intuitive to the human psyche. (But to sin that grace may abound to the glory of God I cannot tolerate, nor could Paul {cf. Romans 6:15}; this extreme stretches beyond even the seemingly limitless boundaries of God's purposes.)

I often try to imagine myself in the Biblical setting of most story lines I read in the Scriptures. In this particular one found in the gospel of John I can almost hear and see Jesus telling the disciples that his good friend Lazarus was about to die, and that it was actually going to be a good thing. Pretending I'm actually there in Jesus' and the disciples' midst listening to this, I can confidently predict my internal reaction: 'What good could possibly come out of death?', I ask. 'You've got to be kidding me. This I'd like to see.', I might further think. But Jesus almost always does just the opposite of what I would naturally think He'd do. He does indeed, as promised, always bring glory to His Father, and while in His divinity He could have prevented Lazarus from dying (which would have also brought glory to the Father), He allows Him to die and then rise again in order than even greater glory might be given to the Father.

I've come to learn this morning that in the reminder that all of life is bound up in the single purpose of honoring my Creator, there are even greater glories given to God than the mind can first comprehend. If I thought, by way of example, reading the Scriptures and praying this morning brought glory to God, then there's even greater glory to Him than what I first perceived. Sometimes that greater glory will be revealed, and sometimes it won't. Sometimes the greater glory is revealed, and I simply cannot see it. Regardless, there's always something more supernaturally profound happening in my surrounds than the eye, mind and soul can absorb. So in the mundanity of my routines, and in the shock and horror of life's corruptible sin, I must believe, I must trust that as a child of the most high God, His glories will rise beyond my wildest imaginations. This is comforting, and this is also very exciting.

'So just how might you glorify Yourself today, God? Would You be so kind as to let me see it, just like you let those in the presence of Lazarus see his rising from the dead? And when I see it, God, may I marvel at the wonder of your works. This is my prayer. Please hear me now.'