The Word became flesh and made his dwelling among us. We have seen His glory, the glory of the one and only Son, who came from the Father, full of grace and truth. John 1:14
“Tell me, will you seek to obtain this vulgar glory? Do not, I beg and entreat you. It turns everything upside down; it is the mother of avarice, of slander, of false witness, of treacheries; it arms and exasperates those who have received no injury against those who have inflicted none. He who has fallen into this disease neither knows friendship nor remembers old companionship, and knows not how to respect any one at all; he has cast away from his soul all goodness, and is at war with every one, unstable, without natural affection.”
John Chyrsostom (c. 347-407) in Homilies on the Gospel of John 3.6. Chrysostom is the third of four Doctors of the Eastern Church.
I hope you like the new header photo of my neighborhood with a fresh blanket of snow set against the bright blue sky. It shouted of the glory of God and His goodness to creation.
Glory and goodness belong to God. When Jesus walked the earth we saw the visible manifestation of this glory and goodness. As the Spirit works in us, we can reflect His glory, but we are only mirrors. We also dispense His generosity, but we are only pipes. He’s the Source!
If we seek glory in our giving, what appears through us is the opposite of goodness, which is the biblical term for generosity. We produce avarice and host of other treacheries as Chrysostom put it. But why? When we seek glory we attach to the wrong thing which causes us to lose the connections which give us life and community.
Worst of all, we lose our connection to the Source. Want to grow in generosity? Do not to seek glory.