The Weight of Glory: Kavod
Welcome, friend! Grateful you’re here—may these words draw you closer to His heart.
A Little Word Study Before the Poetic Word:
The Hebrew word kavod (כָּבוֹד) is most often translated as “glory” in our English Bibles. But the richness of its meaning goes far beyond what we typically think of as glory — something shiny, radiant, or majestic. Kavod comes from a root that means “weight” or “heaviness.” In other words, the glory of God is not something light or fleeting; it is substantial, weighty, and unshakable.
When Scripture speaks of the kavod of the Lord filling the temple (2 Chronicles 5:14), it describes a presence so real and heavy that the priests could not even stand to minister. God’s glory isn’t an abstract concept — it’s His tangible, overwhelming presence pressing into the reality of our lives.
There’s also a personal invitation hidden in kavod. To honor someone — to give them “glory” — is to treat them with weight, value, and significance. In our culture, words and people are often treated lightly, as if they don’t carry much meaning. But to walk in the way of kavod is to remember that God has placed His image in every person, giving them eternal weight and worth.
So when we speak of God’s kavod, we are not just talking about light streaming from heaven. We are talking about the fullness of His reality, His presence, and His worth pressing into our own. And when we honor others with kavod, we reflect that same glory back to Him.
“Kavod”
Philippians 3:18-19, “For there are many, of whom I have often told you, and now tell you even with tears, who live as enemies of the cross of Christ [rejecting and opposing His way of salvation], whose fate is destruction, whose god is their belly [their worldly appetite, their sensuality, their vanity], and whose glory is in their shame—who focus their mind on earthly and temporal things. But [we are different because] our citizenship is in heaven.”
We will all carry weight on our shoulders in this life, but you get to choose whether it will be a weight of glory or a weight of shame.
The hickory bows thread through the tackle
A blacksmith's work is made to hitch and assemble a yoke
One ring is attached to the bottom of the harness
Its placement allowing the yoke to rotate during the haul
Distributing the load in parts to the bow
Pressing the weight against the animals' shoulders
Be ye yoked with Christ or be ye yoked with Satan… choose ye this day whom you will serve. Whose work will you do, and whose field will you plow? When yoked, the younger, weaker oxen will follow in the way of the stronger and more mature. Be ye yoked with Christ and follow in the way of life. Be ye yoked with Satan and follow in the way of destruction. Who will you partner with? Who will you call, Teacher?
As farmers used to train young oxen to plow by partnering them with stronger and more mature oxen. So it is with you in the spirit, my dear brothers and sisters. The job of the younger ox was simply to follow in the same direction and keep pace with the teacher ox. The older ox pulled most of the weight and understood the commands of the plow driver. Jesus is our seasoned ox; He understands and obeys the commands of our Father perfectly. Satan, similarly seasoned in his own field of worldly-yield, knows well the commands of God, yet obstinately stands against Him and plows his own way, sowing crops of death and gnashing of teeth.
Ending Prayer:
Micah 6:8, "[...] And what does the Lord require you But to do justly To love mercy, And to walk humbly with God?"
I will follow Your example of justice and mercy. And I will remember the King of all Glory walks with me and allow that knowledge to humble my steps. Holy Spirit, please give me the mind of Christ and reproduce His life in me. Let Christ emanate off of me like heat waves - changing the temperature of every room in the natural and in the spiritual. Not my will but Your will, Lord. May Your name and Your praise ever be on my lips. I live, and I long to please You, my God.
Give me a more profound understanding of Your nature. Deepen me, O'Lord, I pray, and forgive me of my sins, my wicked past. Allow me to no longer dwell in such a past. My most urgent supplication, O'Lord, is for Your mercy and reformation. Have mercy on Your people, on Your church. Allow not the bride of Christ to suffer the same destruction as those whose glory is their shame, whose mind is set upon the world, for their belly is their god. Lift their heads and open their eyes so that their gaze may rest upon our Christ.
I will keep my eyes on Jesus, who can transform my lowly body and subdue my existence to Himself in glory. I press on toward the goal - for the prize of the upward call of God in Christ Jesus. With one mind, that is the mind of Christ, and under one rule, that is the sovereignty of Christ. In Jesus' name, Holy Spirit, sanction and empower me to do these things, Amen.
A little about this piece:
When I was a child, my mom often traveled back and forth to Amish country on business for our family’s horse farm. She never returned with just horses; she always came back with stories that captured my imagination — glimpses of the Amish way of life — steady, simple, and intentional. One story in particular remains etched in my memory. She told me how, when training a young horse to plow, the Amish would never send it out alone. Instead, they would hitch the inexperienced horse beside a seasoned, mature plow horse. The younger horse would learn by walking beside the older one — feeling the pull, matching the stride, and letting the stronger carry most of the weight until it too grew steady.
This old Amish wisdom paints a similar picture to the spiritual truth Paul speaks of in Philippians 3:18-19. He warns of those who live as enemies of the cross, yoked not to Christ but to their own appetites and worldly desires — a partnership that leads only to destruction. “Their god is their belly… their glory is in their shame… they focus their mind on earthly things.” But for those who belong to Christ, Paul reminds us: “Our citizenship is in heaven.”
Every one of us will carry a weight in this life. The question is not if but what kind of weight — the weight of shame, or the weight of glory.
This is where the Hebrew word kavod speaks volumes. Kavod means “glory,” but its root meaning is “weight” or “heaviness.” God’s glory isn’t light or fleeting; it presses in with substance, with reality. To be yoked with Christ is to bear His kavod — the weight of His glory, His presence, His eternal worth. On our own, such a weight would crush us. But in His mercy, Jesus carries the greater share. He bears the heaviest part. Christ shoulders the impossible, and in Him, the weight of glory becomes the gift of freedom.
“Take My yoke upon you and learn from Me [following Me as My disciple], for I am gentle and humble in heart, and YOU WILL FIND REST (renewal, blessed quiet) FOR YOUR SOULS.” Matthew 11:29
Just as a young ox or horse learns by being yoked to a seasoned one, so we learn by being yoked to Christ. Jesus is the mature ox, perfectly obeying the Father’s commands, carrying the heaviest share of the burden, teaching us by His steady way. When we walk beside Him, His strength covers our weakness and His wisdom steadies our steps. To be yoked with Him is to find life, direction, and freedom. But to yoke ourselves with the enemy — seasoned in rebellion and opposition to God — is to walk in a furrow that leads only to death.
So the question presses in like the weight of the yoke itself: Whose field will you plow? Whose work will you do? Who will you call, Teacher? The Amish farmer knows: the young horse will always become like the one it walks beside. And so will we. Whose weight will you carry? The crushing weight of shame, or the eternal kavod of God’s glory?