The Glory of Children
The glory of children is their fathers. A simple reflection on the glory of God, the goodness of the Lord, the Holy Spirit and Christ in us.
Airton Humber · 03/06/26 · 7 min de leitura
A simple reflection on the glory of God, the goodness of the Lord, the Holy Spirit and Christ being formed in the children.
Contents
Where it all began
Perhaps the glory of God is one of the most beautiful, and least understood, themes in the Bible.
When we hear the word glory, we usually think of brightness, majesty or power.
But everything began to change when Solomon wrote something that seems simple:
“Children's children are the crown of the old, and the glory of children is their fathers.”
Proverbs 17:6
Perhaps a silent thread was already hidden there, running through all of Scripture.
The glory of children is their fathers.
Children reveal where they came from.
Their identity, their way of living, their character and even their language usually carry the marks of what they received.
Perhaps that is why the Bible treats glory so differently from human thinking.
Because we usually associate glory with recognition, strength or exaltation.
But Scripture seems to point in another direction.
Moses asks for the glory
Moses asked for something extraordinary:
“I beg you, show me your glory.”
Exodus 33:18
And God's answer is surprising.
Moses asks for glory.
But God answers:
“I will make all my goodness pass before you…”
Exodus 33:19
This is deeply beautiful.
Because God does not begin by revealing power, armies or outward greatness.
He reveals mercy, goodness, compassion and lordship.
And he adds something hard for the human heart to accept:
“I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy.”
Exodus 33:19
Because he is the Lord.
Perhaps there is an important key here.
The glory of God does not seem separate from his own being.
God revealed goodness, mercy and lordship.
The Son reveals the glory
That is why Hebrews says:
“He, who is the radiance of the glory and the exact expression of his being…”
Hebrews 1:3
The Son does not merely possess glory.
The Son reveals the glory.
Jesus Christ is the radiance of the glory and the exact expression of the Father.
Perhaps that is why John says:
“And we saw his glory…”
John 1:14
And he immediately explains:
“…full of grace and truth.”
John 1:14
Not only power.
Grace and truth.
The glory of God begins to become clearer when we stop looking for it only in outward brightness and begin to see it in the revelation of God's own being.
Goodness leads to repentance
Perhaps that is exactly why Jesus begins his preaching by saying:
“Repent…”
Matthew 4:17
And Paul, later on, explains something extraordinary:
“It is the goodness of God that leads you to repentance.”
Romans 2:4
This deeply changes our perception.
Repentance does not seem to be born mainly from fear.
But from the encounter with the goodness of the Lord.
Perhaps now we can better understand Moses' request:
“I ask you to show me your glory.”
Exodus 33:18
And the Lord's answer:
“I will make all my goodness pass before you.”
Exodus 33:19
Moses asked to see the glory.
God answered by revealing his goodness.
Centuries later, David, called a man after God's own heart, declares:
“I believe that I will see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.”
Psalm 27:13
Perhaps it is no coincidence.
A man after God's own heart did not seek only deliverance, victory or protection.
David wanted to see the Lord.
He wanted to behold his beauty.
He wanted to recognize his presence in the midst of life.
And, in speaking of the goodness of the Lord, David seems to touch the same mystery revealed to Moses.
is, in some way,
seeing the very glory of God.
The glory of God is not only a manifestation of power.
The glory of God is his goodness becoming visible.
That is why seeing the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living is, in some way, seeing the very glory of God.
And then everything begins to speak together.
Moses asks for the glory.
God reveals goodness.
David hopes to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living.
Goodness leads to repentance.
Jesus calls to the Kingdom.
Repentance begins to stop being only an awareness of guilt and becomes a change of mind before the goodness, the truth and the lordship of God.
Perhaps that is why Paul speaks of the freedom of the glory of the children of God: children who have learned to recognize, receive and manifest this goodness.
Jesus Christ is Lord
Paul declares:
“Jesus Christ is Lord, to the glory of God the Father.”
Philippians 2:11
And also:
“The Lord is the Spirit.”
2 Corinthians 3:17
Perhaps it is here that the theme of glory becomes even more beautiful.
Because Jesus Christ is Lord to the glory of God the Father.
And the Spirit sent by Jesus is the Lord working in us.
It is not the ego.
It is not religion.
It is not human effort trying to manufacture holiness.
It is the Lord working both the willing and the doing, according to his good pleasure.
The mercy is his.
The glory is his.
Transformed from glory to glory
Paul continues:
“And all of us, with unveiled face, beholding… the glory of the Lord, are transformed, from glory to glory…”
2 Corinthians 3:18
Glory does not seem to be only something we behold.
It also seems to be something that transforms us.
Not instantly.
But from glory to glory.
Perhaps that is why the Scriptures speak so much of perseverance, maturing and transformation.
Beholding the glory of the Lord is not merely admiring something distant.
It is remaining before him with unveiled face, allowing the Spirit to form Christ in us.
And transformation reveals Christ.
Trials, perseverance and maturity
Paul even says:
“We glory in our very tribulations.”
Romans 5:3
And James writes:
“Count it all joy when you go through various trials…”
James 1:2
Not because suffering is good.
But because, guided by the Spirit, even trials can mature a person.
Produce perseverance.
Approved character.
A renewed mind.
Perhaps this is exactly what Romans 12 describes:
“Do not be conformed to this age, but be transformed by the renewal of your mind…”
Romans 12:2
Not being conformed to this world is no longer reacting according to the ego, according to appearance, according to the need for control or according to the glory of men.
It is being transformed by the renewal of the mind.
It is remaining under the lordship of the Spirit.
The fruit of the Spirit
Then the fruit of the Spirit begins to ripen.
Not separate fruits.
But a single fruit.
The love received from God produces joy, peace, patience and kindness.
Then comes goodness.
And perhaps goodness is the first expression of the fruit that clearly reaches the other person.
Not depending on the other person's attitude.
But giving back what it received from the Lord.
Then comes faithfulness.
Faithfulness to the process.
Faithfulness to the Spirit.
Faithfulness to maturing.
And this leads us to gentleness.
The ego gradually loses its hardness.
It is being tamed.
Until it arrives at self-control.
Perhaps not only human self-control.
But lordship.
Christ in us.
James then seems to close the process:
“If anyone does not stumble in speech, he is perfect…”
James 3:2
Perfect here does not seem to mean sinless.
But mature.
Complete.
The stature of the matured man.
The stature of the perfect man.
Christ gains expression.
The Glory of Children and the Father
And perhaps then we return to the point where it all began.
Solomon wrote:
“Children's children are the crown of the old, and the glory of children is their fathers.”
Proverbs 17:6
Fathers are the glory of their children.
And children's children are the crown of their fathers.
Life goes on.
But perhaps Jesus added here an even deeper layer.
“Call no one on earth your father; for you have one Father, he who is in heaven.”
Matthew 23:9
Jesus does not seem to deny earthly fathers.
The commandment itself goes on:
honor your father and your mother.
But he repositions something very important:
the origin of Life,
true sonship
and the source of glory.
Perhaps that is why there is something deeply beautiful here:
God has no grandchildren.
And perhaps Paul is pointing exactly to this when he speaks of the:
“freedom of the glory of the children of God.”
Romans 8:21
Not the glory of the ego.
But the freedom of children who no longer live bound to vanity, to corruption and to the slavery of the self.
Children guided by the Spirit.
Children in whom Christ begins to be revealed.
Each generation is called to repentance, to the Spirit and to sonship.
We do not live only from someone else's revelation.
We are called to be born of the Spirit.
And perhaps it is exactly here that glory appears again.
The Father reveals his glory in the Son.
The Son sends the Spirit.
The Spirit forms Christ in the children.
And the children reveal the glory of the Father.
Not their own glory.
Not a spiritualized ego.
But Christ being revealed.
The Son reveals the Father.
And the Spirit forms Christ in the children.
Closing
Perhaps that is why everything is so simple, and, at the same time, so hidden from our eyes.
We spent many years looking for glory in high places, in power, in recognition or in extraordinary manifestations.
But Moses asked for glory and found the goodness of the Lord.
The Son revealed the glory of the Father.
The Spirit continues forming Christ.
And we, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed, from glory to glory.
Not instantly.
But along the way.
In the mercies of God.
In trials.
In perseverance.
In the renewed mind.
In the fruit that ripens.
In the goodness that reaches the other person.
In the faithfulness that remains.
In the gentleness that tames the heart.
And in the self-control that reveals lordship.
Perhaps that is exactly why Solomon wrote:
“Children's children are the crown of the old, and the glory of children is their fathers.”
Proverbs 17:6
Life goes on.
The Father reveals his glory in the Son.
The Son sends the Spirit.
The Spirit forms Christ in the children.
And so, little by little, the glory of God is perceived again on the earth.
Not as the brightness of the ego.
But as Christ revealed in ordinary human beings guided by the Holy Spirit.
Christ in us.
