The Glory That Lasts (Proverbs 25:27)
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Proverbs 25:27
It is not good to eat much honey,
nor is it glorious to seek one's own glory.
One commentator says on this verse, “Glory can be a good thing, just like honey. It is also part of God’s promise to the believer (Romans 8:18). Yet to seek one’s own glory is not good — just like eating too much honey. Doing so is not glory at all. We should seek God’s glory and not worry about our own glory.”
Let’s sit with that for a second. Because our culture runs on glory-chasing. Build your brand. Get the likes. Make a name for yourself. But Proverbs is tapping us on the shoulder — maybe even poking us in the ribs a bit — and saying: careful. Honey is sweet, but too much will make you sick. Glory can be good — but seek it for yourself, and it loses its taste.
There was once a woman who walked this earth named Babe Didrikson Zaharias, who was — in the 1940s — considered the greatest female athlete in history. Olympic gold medalist, champion golfer, basketball star, track phenom. Talk about doing it all. She was actually named the “Woman Athlete of the Half-Century” in 1950 by the Associated Press.
The half-century! That’s an honor you can literally only give out twice.
But guess what? I bet you didn’t know who she was. Almost no one under 40 knows her name. Maybe under 50. Maybe even under 60.
And there it is. The Proverbs warning, in flesh and blood. Even the brightest, loudest, most earned glory? It fades. Just like too much honey, it doesn’t sit well over time.
Yesterday we looked at the cross before the crown, humility before honor. Today’s verse is like part two. It zooms in on the honor piece. Honor and glory aren’t bad. But if they become the goal — the thing we chase — they turn sour. Just like too much honey.
And let’s be honest, don’t we all want some glory? We want to be admired. Remembered. We want our work to matter, our name to mean something. And I get that. But 1 Peter reminds us:
“All flesh is like grass and all its glory like the flower of grass.
The grass withers, and the flower falls, but the word of the Lord remains forever.”
At the end of the day, it’s not at all glorious to seek our own glory. Why, you ask?
Because we weren’t made for it.
You weren’t designed to bask in your own spotlight. You were designed to be a mirror of God’s image.
We bear the image of our Maker, and we were created to bring Him glory. Our glory, if any we receive on earth, is like a morning mist on a windshield, gone before the engine warms up. From dust we were formed, and to dust we will return — trophies, headlines, applause and all.
But that passage in 1 Peter concludes saying: “And this word is the good news that was preached to you.”
It’s actually a GOOD thing that our glory fades and God’s doesn’t. God has promised us a glory that won’t fade. A glory that isn’t earned, but given — through the One who gave up all His glory to bring us into His. Jesus emptied Himself, took the lowest place, and was raised up in glory. And if you’re in Him, that’s your path too.
So today: let’s stop gorging on our own name — and hunger instead for His.
Let’s stop grasping for glory like it’s the prize, and start living like we already have it — because of Christ.
A few questions for you as we close:
Where in your life are you glory-chasing — even subtly?
What would it look like today to seek God’s glory instead of your own?
Let’s pray.
