Book Review: Glory Hunger by JR Vassar

• SA Engages

March 25, 2019

Revelation 2 contains the letter from John to the Church in Ephesus. In this letter, Jesus, who had been using John to write letters to several churches to either call out their issues that needed addressing or affirm them as they went through times of struggle, brings up how the church in Ephesus has been “enduring patiently and bearing up for my name’s sake, and you have not grown weary” but “have abandoned the love [they] had at first” (Revelation 2:3-4, ESV). These letters to the ancient churches contain truth for not only them in that time period, but for us nowadays as well, and the truth that struck me with this message not too long ago was that I, in some ways, have lost my first love, or at least had lost some of the things I had done when I first was falling in love. When it was all fresh, new, and exciting, and I had my first real encounter with Jesus, I loved reading books and listening to sermons all to try to learn so much more about Jesus, but as time went by, I got too busy and sort of lost my love for doing those things, but I longed to get back into the swing of things, remembering my first love once again.

JR Vassar’s “Glory Hunger: God, the Gospel, and Our Quest for Something More” was the book I initiated my resurgence into reading books regularly again with, and I am overjoyed that it was. Vassar, the Senior Pastor of Church at the Cross in Grapevine, Texas, sought to show readers a problem all of us have as a result of the Fall in Genesis 3, the repercussions of that problem, and how to renounce one of the ever-present side effects of the Fall, which is the issue of us seeking the glory that rightfully belongs to God.

Following a foreword by Matt Chandler, Vassar exposes how “the glory hunger we all possess is to be restored to a glorious image and crowned with honor by God” (pg. 23) which stems from our first ancestors, Adam and Eve, who brought sin into the world and made a need for restoration. As a result of the Fall and the emergence of sin we often try to compensate for our lost glory, adopt narcissistic tendencies that turn the attention on ourselves, and try to put on a good face to try to remain in good graces with society; “a hunger for glory is a legitimate part of humanity’s intended design, but it has been twisted. God built us for glory but our glory hunger has made us slave to it.” (pg. 16)

Vassar observes that “until the opinion of the one who matters most actually matters most to you, you will never be free from your unrelenting glory hunger” (pg. 44) and calls for us to abandon the hunger of our own glory by giving it to the One truly worthy of it. Referencing multiple passages of Scripture including Psalm 145, Vassar motions for readers to look upward to God who is vast and wonderous in all of His ways instead of inward to our shallow hearts that are prone to be selfish, wicked, and in search of ultimate affirmation, as “in Him [Jesus] we are given the unchanging status of justified and adopted children of God” (pg. 54). Once we get it through our thick skulls that when we are saved we are called God’s beloved sons and daughters by God Himself, we can finally rest in our pursuit of our own glory and instead give it to the One who is truly worthy of it.

With an easy to read flow and repetition of main points to make sure readers understand what he is trying to say, Vassar delivers a goldmine of practical information on a subject we all deal with in a small book. For those seeking freedom from self and the never-ending labor of trying to build up our own reputations, this book is a must-read.

Sources

Vassar, JR. (2015). Glory Hunger: God, the Gospel, and Our Quest for Something More. Wheaton, IL: Crossway.

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