Moses is one of my heroes. Moses is the man who had a conversation with a burning bush. The one who sees a rod become a snake, and a snake become a rod. He had a supernatural showdown with the sorcerers of Egypt, and walked a nation through the Red Sea.

He also prayed what must be the most audacious, outrageous prayer of the Bible: “Show me Your Glory.”

This man, this Moses, who saw all these miracles – and more – stands before a holy God and says ‘show me Your Glory”.

Moses hid in the cleft of the rock and God passed by, showing His goodness. As a result, Moses face shone, and the people turned away from him out of fear. In fact, Moses had to veil his face when he was amongst the Israelites.

Incredible. Amazing. Wonderful. Yet 2 Corinthians 3 says that we have a greater glory! It’s worth remembering that the author of the letter to the Corinthians was the Apostle Paul – a trained rabbi, an intellectual, a student of the renowned and respected Gamaliel (Acts 22:3). A ‘Hebrew of Hebrews’ according to his credentials in Philippians 5:4-6. Paul would have known Moses, the revered prophet of the Old Testament, very well indeed.

So why did he write that it is a greater glory? Paul must have had a revelation of a stunning contrast: Moses had a reflected glory whilst we have an indwelt glory – the Holy Spirit who lives in us! He realised that Moses glory was fading yet ours goes from glory to glory!

This means that the people we sit next to in church have a glory that could radically change our lives if we recognise and embrace it. The people in our family; in our home group; in our walks of life.

This means that the best definition of honor is the correct recognition of glory in another.

After all, we are all made in His image. ‘Be imitators of God’, the Apostle Paul writes. Be Christlike. Go from glory to glory yourself. And along the way, let’s learn to recognise the glory all around us in the people God has put in our pathway.

This post is part of a series called Towards a United Kingdom, which can be purchased in audio or video format here.