Splendor - Wednesday's Word

A good friend and I decided on New Year’s Eve that we would do a 40 day fast together starting on January first. We’re reading a 40 day devotional together and checking in on each other daily. As I have stated here before, just last year in fact, I am not one for resolutions. But I do like to take stock of what’s working and what isn’t, especially at the beginning of a new year. Our decision was prompted by her admitting that she eats way too much sugar and feels like she really needs to do something about it, so before I could think twice, I said, “I’ll do that with you, we can be accountable to each other!” So off we went, but a couple of days in I realized my “thing” isn’t so much sugar, it’s shopping. This was not a new revelation to me, it’s been a problem for a good long while but not anything I’ve ever had any real success overcoming. I texted her and asked how she felt if my fast was from shopping instead of sugar and she said what I figured she would, it’s not the what as much as the why. I couldn’t agree more.

So what does that have to do with the word splendor? In our Monday reading from Matthew 4, verses 8 and 9 say; “Again, the devil took him to a very high mountain and showed him all the kingdoms of the world and their splendor. And he said to him, ‘I will give you all these things if you will fall down and worship me.’” The three ways the devil tempts Jesus in Matthew 4 are, one, satisfy your own hunger, two, prove your divinity, and three, worship me for worldly power. I’m pretty sure I could write a book on each one, how about you?

The truth is the devil has been tempting us in these three ways ever since the garden of Eden. In my own life, I have definitely tried to satisfy my hunger on my own, which is a grab at being my own god; or to put it in the above vernacular, proving my divinity. But it’s the last one that really grabbed my attention.

As I meditated on verses 8 and 9 I got stuck on the word splendor. In looking at its definition, this is what I discovered. Splendor as defined by Webster’s means “great brightness or luster: brilliancy: magnificence, pomp: something splendid.” Splendid is defined as, “marked by showy magnificence: illustrious, grand.” Synonyms for splendid are, beautiful, choice, fabulous, first-class, grand, high-class. While reading on the etymology of splendid I came across this sentence; “By the 1610’s (splendid) was associated with a ‘great show of riches and elegance.’” To be described as splendid was to be enviable, a style setter, or in today’s language, an influencer. In the 15th and 16th centuries splendid came to connote the tokens or markers of wealth.

Most of us are influenced by trends, style, what’s current, and yes, what’s enviable. I know I am. When I see a beautiful piece of clothing, or a gorgeous color, or beautiful craftsmanship I feel a pull toward that thing. On some level we, I, want said thing to make me feel beautiful or worthy or stylish. And the devil, via some very cunning advertising, makes me feel like I can, in fact, be any or all of the above if only I buy that thing. But it’s a lie, it’s always been a lie, it’s just a lie I keep falling for. And it’s because of this, the repeated falling for the same lie, that I find myself embarking on this fast.

When I look back at the definition of splendid and splendor, what I see are words meant only to define one person, Jesus. Great brightness, luster, brilliancy, 1 Timothy 6:16 says, “He alone has immortality and dwells in unapproachable light, whom no one has ever seen or can see. To him be honor and eternal dominion! Amen.” All true beauty is found in him because he is the author of beauty. If we are going to be influenced by anyone, let it be by the one whose splendor is so great that Moses’ face shown just from being in his presence Ex. 34:29-35.

I’m not pretending this is going to be easy, the “want it now” groove in my brain is pretty deep, but my desire is to change that with the help of the only one truly worthy of being called splendid.