Through The Bible in a Year - August 4, 2026
“The glory that you have given me I have given to them, that they may be one even as we are one… Father, I desire that they also, whom you have given me, may be with me where I am, to see my glory that you have given me because you loved me before the foundation of the world.” - John 17:22-24
Before the foundation of the world, the Father loved the Son and gave Him glory. Before creation began, before humanity existed, before sin entered and broke everything—there was eternal love between our Heavenly Father and His Son. This shared glory evident in divine love preceded time itself.
Amazingly, Jesus speaks of this glory, saying to his Heavenly Father, “The glory that you have given me I have given to them [Jesus’s disciples].”
The glory that God gives to His Son, Jesus gives to His disciples. That means Jesus gives his glory to people who would betray Him and deny Him and scatter in the night. To people across all generations who would fail and wander and need forgiveness over and over again. That same glory—shared before the foundation of the world—He has given to us.
And, having shared this glory with us, Christ’s desire is that we would be with Him where He is, to see that glory more fully. Not just to benefit from it but to behold it. To be present with Him in it. To see, face to face, the glory that has been His since before time began.
I think of a hospice nurse named Jackie who was calloused, crude, and hard, but then she watched a pastor and his wife walk through the horror of ALS with joy and faith. Later, she said that she knew she needed their Jesus.
The suffering pastor said: “It’s not the path I would have chosen. But our affliction led to her eternity. And even for one it was worth it.”
That’s the glory Jesus has given to us: not the absence of struggle, but the presence of Christ in the struggle that makes the world stop and look at Him.
Respond: What trial or affliction or tension are you carrying right now that you’ve been asking God to remove? Consider if it is the very context through which the glory of Christ becomes visible to someone watching.
This week, ask God: “What aspect of your glory do You want to display through the trial, affliction, or tension that I am experiencing? Help me consider who might be watching. But above all, help me to rejoice in the wonder that Your glory can be witnessed in how I carry this.”
Prayer: Father, You gave Jesus glory before the foundation of the world, and He has given that glory to me. I confess I rarely feel glorious—I feel broken and inadequate. But You say Your glory rests on Your people. Let it be seen in how I walk through this trial, or affliction, or tension. Let someone watching see something they cannot explain—and let it lead them to Jesus or let it teach me more of the glory that is in Him. In Jesus’ name, Amen.