Don't Lose The Glory

“Don't lose the Glory”

By

Bishop Melvin L. Maughmer, Jr.

SCRIPTURE: 1 Samuel 4:19-22 “And about the time of her death the women that stood by her said unto her, Fear not; for thou hast born a son. But she answered not, neither did she regard it. And she named the child Ichabod, saying, The glory is departed from Israel: because the ark of God was taken, and because of her father in law and her husband. And she said, The glory is departed from Israel: for the ark of God is taken”.

OPENING: - Right now, it’s a time of hope as well as a time of anxiety, we hope of a better day after Covid-19 yet we are anxious because of the unknown. According to the CDC website on Tuesday 5/11/2021 58.5% of Americans have had at least 1 shot and as a result we are thinking about gathering in new ways and we find ourselves getting increasingly excited trying to figure it out how we can get back to normal. Yes, more people are getting vaccinated and according to the CDC and all the news reports the numbers of Covid-19 cases and deaths in America seems to be getting smaller. There are less and less restrictions in place and we find ourselves able to experience certain freedoms that have been gone for a while now. We can be outside often without masks and if we’re vaccinated they are saying that groups can gather more now in greater numbers than previously. Sporting events are allowing fans in the stands, restaurants have sit-down dinning, cruise ships are preparing to set sail again and things seem to be getting a form of normalcy to it. The sad thing about normalcy is it is often followed by complacency and mediocrity.

Understand the virus has not disappeared people are still getting sick and dying but we are beginning to be able to envision what life after the pandemic might look like.

The important thing that we must remember never to do is to become so comfortable that we fall into a situation like this again. If we stop for a minute and look back at this past year sure there are a lot of things that we were not able to do, but there are a lot of things that grew exponentially during this pandemic.

The pandemic forced churches to move from the four walls and the eloquent edifices to online sermons with an escalated determination to ensure influential and doctrine-based content because the new pandemic church demanded we do so. It seems to me that when sickness, death and darkness descended on the world it was the catalyst that caused many people to reflect on what was important. Because of the virus, there began to be a greater hunger for the word of God. People began to understand that Revelation is pure, interpretation is good, application is a necessity, and timing is everything. Gone was the entertainment and concert type atmosphere that made people happy and feel good for the moment but rarely ever produced a life changing relational experience with God.

Now I am not one of these people that say like some people say Amazon has made the brick-and-mortar stores nearly obsolete so is the church after the pandemic. We must clearly understand that the church is not a peddler of products and services. The church is the Body of Christ, a body made up of many members fitly joined together. That is the light of the world and the salt of the world, light shows the way salt preserves if the light has gone out then how can we show people the way, if the salt has lost its savor, it is good for nothing but to be trodden under the feet of men. Don’t lose the Glory!

Glory as a verb, is used to describe what we give God, We, give God glory, we give God praises by shouting Glory to God in the highest. One song writer said it like this when I think of the goodness of Jesus and all He has done for me my soul cries out hallelujah – that’s glory, the fruit of our lips, the sacrifice of praise is glory. When I lift, my hands and say Thank you Jesus that’s glory. In sign language when you raise your hand from one side to the other that’s glory. What we must learn is that Glory is an adjective and a verb at the same time. Glory as an adjective describes one of GOD’s attributes, meaning powerful, majestic, and greatness. God is glory or God’s glory. So as clarity when I say Don’t Lose the Glory it has nothing to do with the adjective but all with the verb and that is what we do.