Should We Want to Be Exalted?

Could it be that God’s will and intention to exalt you?
But isn’t the desire to be exalted above others arrogant, presumptuous and sinful?
Is this not the sin of Lucifer?

But what if God desires to exalt you?

God demonstrated this in Christ who said, “When the Son of man is lifted up, He will draw all men to Himself.”
The Greek word for “lifted up,” hypsoō—used by Jesus on three occasions (John 3, 8, 12)—can be interpreted as being lifted up from the earth—as in being crucified; or being lifted up in exaltation.
The fact that Jesus uses the word interchangeably indicates that He equates His Crucifixion with His exaltation.

The lesson that Christ is teaching demands a radical mind shift: our exaltation will only occur if we are lifted up, hypsoō, from slavishly being chained to comforts and disordered attachments.

God desires to lift you up from the world for the purpose of making of you a holy spectacle who will magnetically draw your family, friends, and even your enemies to Christ’s love.

There exists a direct correlation between the level of your sacrificial love and the level of your exaltation.

Therefore you must fight to overcome fear by having the mind of Christ; to know, believe, and reaffirm the truth that God desires to hypsoō you, to exalt you.

The Father eternally loves us and desires to exalt us as He glorified St. Joseph and as He ultimately exalted Jesus the son of Joseph.

Notice that in order for Jesus to be lifted up—hypsoō—He became very, very small.
And frankly, isn’t that what we are afraid of?—be- ing unnoticed, unimportant, little, silent, and hidden.

This is the enduring example Jesus gives us—not only by becoming a babe in the womb of Mary, but also by being present in the Eucharist, where He is truly little: little enough to enter into you.
He is truly silent: He quietly listens to you without saying a word.
He is truly hidden: He is often unnoticed even as He is elevated on our altars.

The key to Jesus’ glory, the secret to becoming a great father like St. Joseph, the way to become a man of glory, is a great paradox: the lower you go, the more God will hypsoō you—lift you up—and in the end exalt you.

To be glorified is not for the fainthearted.
It does not mean that somehow a man muscles up and plays the strongman, the individual who steals the show.

The true hero realizes that to be lifted up in glory demands that he lower himself to serve his wife and children.