Thine Is the Glory

Last line of the Lord's Prayer...I hate to admit it, but I often want to go after the glory. One of my great frustrations, that perhaps is really a gift, about being a first-year seminarian is that we don't get to preach...we can't take homiletics until middler year, when we've had "a good grounding in Scripture;" and we aren't yet in a field ed site, so can't preach off-campus either.

I realized three years ago that preaching is my great passion. But I have to constantly, constantly, constantly be aware that this passion is a gift from God, to be used only for the glory of God, NOT to glorify myself; i.e., it's exhilarating to have eyes upon me when in a pulpit, but they aren't there to listen to me, they are there to hear about God. So reading that the kingdom, power and glory are God's today reminds me that it's good for me to have some patience, to learn something, before pursuing this great passion of preaching.

It also pertains to me achieving less than the GPA that I want. I really don't think God cares about my grades, except perhaps that it's probably good that I'm not as smart as I thought I was, because that's humbling. Aaarrrrgh.