1. THE GLORY OF THE WORLD
1John 2:15
Do not love the world, nor the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him.
Mathew 4:8-10
And again, the devil took Him up on an exceedingly high mountain and showed Him all the kingdom of the world and their
glory
And he said to Him, “All this I will give to You if You can fall down and worship me”
Then Jesus said to him “away with you Satan! For it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and Him only, you
shall serve”
To be frank with you, the world has its glory, and its glory is beautiful. As a state governor, you arrive at an event in a
convoy of cars, siren blowing left, right, and centre. Everything looking great, retinue of servant at your call to open the
door to your car. Servants literarily carrying your leg from your car to the ground. You step into the hall everyone stands
up to welcome you. The guest speaker stops in the middle of his speech to allow you walk in. You are ushered straight to
your seat on the high table carrying the seal of ‘THE GOVERNOR’. You get to your sit with everyone still standing, you
sit and then motion to the audience to sit down. You then signal the guest speaker who obviously by now seems lost and
stuck in the middle of his own speech to continue. Isn’t this glorious for the Governor. My dear, the world has its own glory
and it’s beautiful.
As children of God, this shouldn’t be our motivation in life. The scripture records Jesus’ encounter with the glory of the
world. At a time, the devil took Him to a high mountain to show Him the kingdom and glory of this world. To be a partaker
of this, the devil made a seemingly simple request of Him – fall down and worship me. That was the request – worship me
(devil). Jesus response was astonishing “away with you Satan for it is written, you shall worship the Lord your God, and
Him only shall you serve”. Note, Jesus rebuked the devil at that instance. Never think He was not tempted to want to bow
after He was shown the world’s glory. Else, it won’t have being referred to in the scripture that Jesus was tempted of the
devil. He overcame by rebuking the devil and fighting with scriptures.
One interesting thing about the glory of the world is that, the devil has the keys to it. He can actually give it to you and his
demands has not changed until now. The devil says worship me and you will have it. Of a truth, the devil still entices people
in our time and age, and his conditions has always remained.
As Christians, what should be our attitude towards it? It should be that of Jesus Christ. Rebuke the devil and refuse to
worship him. Unfortunately, that is not the case today. Instead of rebuking the devil, we make it a motivation for our prayer
points or better still, we turn it into a payer point. Oh Lord lift me up! You burst into songs
Gbemisoke, gbemidide, fami lowo soke, ki n ga ju aye lo, ogo aye mi, je ko yo jade, fami lowo sokee, mama je kop e (lift me
up Lord, help me stand, pull me up, make me above the world, let my glory shine, pull me up, do it speedily).
That’s the kind of songs we sing these days. What is the motive behind these songs? Glory of the world! Brother Kay had
seen a man earlier in the day display the glory of the world before him. He gets home that night and his prayer points
changes. He bursts into the above song and all of a sudden, he wants divine breakthrough. Why? He has seen the glory of
this world, and he desires to be a partaker. Sister Tee had just being appointed the commissioner for finance in the state. On
Sunday, she storms the church for special thanksgiving for the new position. At the altar during the thanksgiving, you can
literarily touch her joy and excitement. Praise the Lord! The entire congregation shouts a thunderous hallelujah and the
pastors glasses is almost flying off in the process of shouting his own thunderous hallelujah. She says the joy of the Lord
has so much filled my heart today, I don’t even know where to start my thanks. She bursts into song emi o mo o, emi o mo,
ogangan, ogangan ibi ti un ba ti mu ope mi wa (I don’t know the exact point to start my thanks). Probe why she is this
excited, it is because of the new post. Why is the new post giving her such joy? It is because of the glory attached to it. Now
2. let’s rewind 3 months backwards, this same sister Tee was nominated to lead the church’s evangelical team on an outreach
in the remote part of the state. On receiving the nomination, her face becomes hardened. She walks straight to the pastor
and nicely turned down the nomination, giving excuses upon excuses. Mind you, at this point, the joy of the Lord did not
fill her heart. Fast forward 3 months later, now as the commissioner for finance, the joy of the Lord has suddenly filled her
heart. That’s our attitude to the glory of the world, unlike Jesus, we find it hard to resist.
Christians should know that the devil is still very much active in this strategy today. He still offers the vain glory of this
world. He might not come to tell you to worship him directly, but he indirectly tells you that if you work more, you will get
it. If only you could give more time to your business at the expense of your relationship with God, then that sudden divine
breakthrough will come. Please, we should be careful and mindful of the ways of the devil. His sole aim is to steal, kill and
destroy (John 10:10). Hence, whatever means available, he adopts to achieve his aim. Therefore, the Christian should be
watchful.
Dear friend, this is not a clarion call for Christians not to take any position in our society, or strife to be successful in their
businesses, of course not! I desire that Christians fill all positions of authority in this country, but the truth is that the driving
force for all this should not be the glory of this world. The glory of the world should not be a motivation for success for a
child of God. The desire to please God should be the driving force of every child of God and not the vain glory of the world
that will fade away.
STAY BLESSED!
