God’s glory—his honor, his esteem, his mind-blowing perfection, his incomprehensible value—is embodied in flesh and blood, in the person of Jesus Christ. The Savior is where God’s glory gathers.

To be a leader we must embrace a paradox. Good leaders pursue glory. Those of us who have been taught that any pursuit of glory is inherently evil must rethink the notion. “He will render to each one according to his works: to those who by patience in well-doing seek for glory and honor and immortality, he will give eternal life” (Rom. 2: 6-7). 

God created us with a built-in hunger for glory. We all pursue it. Every day. Evil comes not in the pursuit of glory, but in where we find it.

My Conversion To a Different Glory

When I became a Christian, something happened deep down inside of me. Conversion redirected my motivation. Grace ignited a desire to live for glory outside of myself. Ambivalence replaced aspiration. I went from believing apathy was “cool” to feeling a deep hunger to show my faith by my works (James 2:20–26). At one time God wasn’t even on my radar; now I wanted God to use my life to make a difference. Why? Because being “born again” means a fresh start powered by a different set of desires. Jonathan Edwards called it “a holy ardency and vigor in the actings of grace.”

My glory drive was not created at conversion. It was fired afresh with a vision for the greater glory of God. Suddenly life became less about the kind of name I could make for myself and more about the glory that would redound to the name of another–the One who embodied God’s glory.

Jesus is God’s Glory

The New Testament tells us repeatedly that Jesus Christ is the glory of God. The author of Hebrews puts it strikingly: “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature” (Hebrews 1:3). Paul and James call Jesus “the Lord of glory” (1 Corinthians 2:8; James 2:1).

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