There is coming a day, likely in the not-too-distant future, that believers will be called up to meet the Lord in the air. We will have the incredible and indescribable privilege of being in His radiant presence for seven years, at the end of which time He will lead all of us back to Earth. At that time, the Lord Jesus will come in the fullness of His glory. The whole world will see Him as He really is, the Eternal Son of the Living God.

We will follow close behind Him, there to watch as He single-handedly destroys all of the wicked on the Earth, and sets up His Millennial Kingdom. Each one of us will be behind Him at His return, in our glorified bodies, bringing by our very presence much glory to Him.

We will have added to His glory if we had received any crowns; for those we would have joyfully cast back to Him out of deep appreciation and joy for His great love. The amount of glory we gave Him would be in accord with the life we had lived before being called up. If that life had been fully dedicated to Him, the glory we gave Him would be great; if that life was mixed with selfishness and laziness, the glory would be only minimal.

At His return, it will be our desire for Him to be glowing with infinite glory, and our only regret will be that we had not given Him more.  I think that is what Paul is describing in his comments to the church at Thessalonica in…

2 Thessalonians 1:11 Wherefore also we pray always for you, that our God would count you worthy of this calling, and fulfil all the good pleasure of his goodness, and the work of faith with power:
12 That the name of our Lord Jesus Christ may be glorified in you, and ye in him, according to the grace of our God and the Lord Jesus Christ.

How can we ever be counted ‘worthy’? He is not speaking here of one’s salvation. We could never earn, or become worthy of His death, burial, and resurrection. Salvation is by grace through faith. The worthiness of which Paul speaks is that which comes from a life yielded to the life of Christ. In other words, we must die to ourselves and let Christ live through us. In so doing, Jesus Christ is seen in us, and not we ourselves.

When we ‘fulfill all the good pleasure of His goodness,’ by allowing His goodness to channel through us into the lives of others, we bring glory to the Lord that will be showered on Him throughout eternity.

When we exercise our faith in Him, believing Him and taking steps based on that belief, we once again bring glory to Him. Taking those steps in faith is the key to unlocking the power of the Holy Spirit. The passage, the ‘Spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak,’ is an indictment on our unwillingness to trust.

Let’s purpose to become worthy of His calling, by allowing the Spirit of Christ to have free reign in our lives, and to take step after step in faith, following Him wherever He leads.