For us creatures made in His image, we are meant to share in God’s glory, and to share this glory with one another. We are meant to be like David and his mighty men—not pursuing glory for its own sake, but pursuing good and mighty works, which God has prepared for us.

When we think about glory, we go quickly to the glory which is God’s alone, and rightly so. God is indeed ultimately glorious. His glory is in a category of its own. When it comes to worship and veneration as God, he refuses to share his glory with competitors and charlatans (Isa. 42:8, 48:11). Yet Jesus claimed glory with the Father before any creation existed, which says something about who Jesus is (John 17:5).

It also says something about what glory is. At the least, it is something which can be shared. It is no injustice to the Father to share glory with the Son, and vice versa. The communicability of glory does not stop there. After Christ states his claim to God’s glory, he says, “The glory that you have given me I have given to [my disciples]” (John 17:22).

The idea that we should somehow share in the glory of God is nearly too much to bear. It is, in fact, this truth which glory-seekers have isolated from the framework of orthodox doctrine and mangled into other false religions. In each of these, man seeks to grasp the glory of God to the depreciation of God himself. Man seeks to take God’s glory at God’s expense, rather than participate in God’s glory for God’s increase.

This reveals two different approaches to glory. One man loves the glory that comes from God and belongs to God, and he wants it to stay where it belongs. He knows glory is scarce, in the sense that it is rare. But he knows glory is not a limited resource, because it comes from the Lord, whose glory is abundant. This man will share in God’s glory, because he seeks to show God as glorious, rather than himself.

The other approach loves the glory that comes from man and begrudges the glorification of any other. Since he sees the rarity of glory as evidence of a limited resource, he hates it when others receive praise—even if he himself is alsopraised! He must receive all the honor primarily and alone, because glory is a zero-sum game.

Let’s call this the difference between a “scarcity” mindset and an “abundance” mindset. One example of the scarcity approach is King Saul. He had in his troupe the greatest warrior in the land: David the giant-slayer. David fought for Saul and gained victory for Israel. He became the king’s armor-bearer. He sought Saul’s interest and honor, which is to say, he sought the king’s glory. Every victory of David reflected well on Saul. And so, the women of Israel sang, “Saul has struck down his thousands, and David his ten thousands” (1 Sam. 18:7).

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