I previously posted some thoughts on defining glory. As I stated in that post, given that our chief purpose in life is to glorify God and enjoy Him forever, we really ought to try and understand “glory.”
As I also said in that post, Piper’s thought that God’s glory is the manifest beauty of His holiness is very helpful to me personally. God’s glory is the loveliness shining forth from Him.
This is very helpful in envisioning how we ought to live the Christian life. For any one of us, to glorify God means to be a mirror that reflects and calls attention to the manifest beauty of God.
Recently, I found James M. Hamilton’s thought in his book, God’s Glory Through Salvation and Judgment, helpful in reflecting on, and understanding, the glory of God.
I would suggest that the glory of God is the weight of the majestic goodness of who God is, and the resulting name, or reputation, that he gains from his revelation of himself as Creator, Sustainer, Judge, and Redeemer, perfect in justice and mercy, loving-kindness and truth.” James M. Hamilton, God’s Glory in Salvation Through Judgment, page 56.
Another one of Piper’s illustrations that is really helpful for me is about the term “magnify” where he asks if our magnifying God is like a microscope or a telescope. One takes really small things and makes them look bigger than they really are. The other takes really big things and makes them look more like what they really are. Our magnifying God is like that of a telescope, so when we live rightly people see more clearly what is usually not visible or clear to them, namely, the glory of God.
Scott, I have heard him use that illustration too and it is very helpful to be reminded of it. Thanks for commenting.