Motivated by Glory
Acts 1:6–7
As we step into a new year, there’s something clarifying about the calendar turning over. A fresh page has a way of pressing honest questions to the surface.
Those questions don’t just help us set goals. They reveal what’s forming us.
For some, last year carried big hopes, and this year feels a little underwhelming. For others, last year was good, and now you’re wondering what comes next. A new year has a way of surfacing both fresh questions and unresolved ones we never quite dealt with.
That’s why, as a church, we’re slowing down. Not to drift. But to be re-centered.
Our vision as a church is: Multiplying gospel-centered disciples who glorify Christ in all of life.
But before we talk about vision, we need to talk about motivation.
Acts 1 meets us with a far bigger question than, “What do I want this year?”
It asks, What is God doing in the world, and how do His people live in light of that?
We Need Orientation, Not Just Inspiration.
We live in a deeply individualistic culture, where a new year often becomes about personal goals, plans, and progress. Those things aren’t wrong. But Jesus never calls His people to build small, personal kingdoms. He calls us into something far larger.
Before Jesus sends His disciples, He recenters them.
They ask Him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
It’s a reasonable question. They’ve seen His power. They’ve watched Him die. They’ve encountered Him risen. Surely now is the moment everything gets fixed.
Jesus responds:
“It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.”
He doesn’t deny the kingdom.
He redirects their expectations.
In other words, God has a plan.
He is not late.
He is not absent.
He is not confused.
We are obsessed with knowing what’s next because, deep down, we believe certainty equals safety. But Scripture reframes that instinct. What we call delay, God often calls mercy. What feels slow to us is redemption still unfolding.
God never asks us to carry what we don’t have the authority to change.
Many of us live like anxious passengers, gripping imaginary brakes, tense at every curve.
The problem isn’t awareness. It’s pretending we have control we were never given.
Anxiety is what happens when you try to drive from the passenger seat.
A church motivated by God’s glory rests in God’s sovereignty instead of demanding control over God’s timing.
What Is the Glory of God?
The glory of God is easier to recognize than it is to define.
Scripture helps us here. In Isaiah 6:3, the angels cry, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts,” and then say something unexpected: “The whole earth is full of his glory.”
The glory of God is the holiness of God made visible.
Holiness on display. Holiness going public.
God is eternally holy. And when that holiness is revealed in ways His creation can see and savor, the Bible calls that glory.
That matters because God does not renew people, churches, or cities randomly. He renews them for His glory. Renewal is not self-reinvention. It’s Spirit-empowered re-orientation.
When our lives are motivated by God’s glory, we are freed from the exhausting need to control outcomes.
We trust the Father with the times and seasons. We walk forward with confidence, not because we know the future, but because we know the One who holds it.
Before we are ever moved into mission, we must be motivated by glory.
- What are we really living for?
- What’s shaping our priorities?
- What’s driving our decisions?
Those questions don’t just help us set goals. They reveal what’s forming us.
For some, last year carried big hopes, and this year feels a little underwhelming. For others, last year was good, and now you’re wondering what comes next. A new year has a way of surfacing both fresh questions and unresolved ones we never quite dealt with.
That’s why, as a church, we’re slowing down. Not to drift. But to be re-centered.
Our vision as a church is: Multiplying gospel-centered disciples who glorify Christ in all of life.
But before we talk about vision, we need to talk about motivation.
Acts 1 meets us with a far bigger question than, “What do I want this year?”
It asks, What is God doing in the world, and how do His people live in light of that?
We Need Orientation, Not Just Inspiration.
We live in a deeply individualistic culture, where a new year often becomes about personal goals, plans, and progress. Those things aren’t wrong. But Jesus never calls His people to build small, personal kingdoms. He calls us into something far larger.
Before Jesus sends His disciples, He recenters them.
They ask Him, “Lord, will you at this time restore the kingdom to Israel?”
It’s a reasonable question. They’ve seen His power. They’ve watched Him die. They’ve encountered Him risen. Surely now is the moment everything gets fixed.
Jesus responds:
“It is not for you to know times or seasons that the Father has fixed by his own authority.”
He doesn’t deny the kingdom.
He redirects their expectations.
In other words, God has a plan.
He is not late.
He is not absent.
He is not confused.
We are obsessed with knowing what’s next because, deep down, we believe certainty equals safety. But Scripture reframes that instinct. What we call delay, God often calls mercy. What feels slow to us is redemption still unfolding.
God never asks us to carry what we don’t have the authority to change.
Many of us live like anxious passengers, gripping imaginary brakes, tense at every curve.
The problem isn’t awareness. It’s pretending we have control we were never given.
Anxiety is what happens when you try to drive from the passenger seat.
A church motivated by God’s glory rests in God’s sovereignty instead of demanding control over God’s timing.
What Is the Glory of God?
The glory of God is easier to recognize than it is to define.
Scripture helps us here. In Isaiah 6:3, the angels cry, “Holy, holy, holy is the Lord of hosts,” and then say something unexpected: “The whole earth is full of his glory.”
The glory of God is the holiness of God made visible.
Holiness on display. Holiness going public.
God is eternally holy. And when that holiness is revealed in ways His creation can see and savor, the Bible calls that glory.
That matters because God does not renew people, churches, or cities randomly. He renews them for His glory. Renewal is not self-reinvention. It’s Spirit-empowered re-orientation.
When our lives are motivated by God’s glory, we are freed from the exhausting need to control outcomes.
We trust the Father with the times and seasons. We walk forward with confidence, not because we know the future, but because we know the One who holds it.
Before we are ever moved into mission, we must be motivated by glory.
Recent
Archive
2026
2025
August
September
October
No Comments