Connection as Our Glory and Superpower

In Psalm 8, the psalmist stands in awe of something almost too large to hold: God has made human beings just a little lower than Himself and crowned them with glory and majesty. Not angels. Not the mountains or the stars he's just finished praising. Us. Fragile, forgetful, frequently failing us.

So what exactly is this glory?

We know from Genesis that humankind was created in the image of God. Our glory is likely connected to this likeness. We reflect something of who God is. But which aspect of God do we most deeply mirror?

Glory as Connection

Jesus gives us a remarkable clue in John 17. As He prays to the Father, He says:

"The glory which You have given Me I also have given to them, so that they may be one, just as We are one; I in them and You in Me, that they may be perfected in unity…"

Notice what He ties glory to. Not power. Not brilliance or status or accomplishment. Glory, in Jesus's own framing, enables oneness. The same kind of deep, living union that exists between the Father and the Son is what He says He has given to us.

Our glory is relational.

We are like God in our capacity to be so deeply connected that we become one. This is not a small idea. It reshapes how we think about spiritual growth, about community, and about what it means to be human.

Grace as the Ground We Stand On

If our glory is connection, then grace is what makes it possible to actually live that way.

Ed Khouri, in his book Becoming a Face of Grace, opens up the Greek word charis in a way that is hard to forget. Grace, he explains, means more than undeserved favor or forgiveness of sins. Relationally and practically, it means we are special and favorite to God without having to earn it. Before we do a thing. Before we improve, arrive, or prove ourselves. God is simply glad to be with us.

That is not a theological footnote. It is the foundation of a whole different way of moving through life.

When this grace becomes real to us, something shifts. We stop having to grasp so hard. We stop needing to perform, impress, or protect our sense of worth quite so urgently. We can hold our own weaknesses with more tenderness. We can hold others' weaknesses the same way. Grace and glory work together: the confidence that we are special and favorite is what allows us to live as the deeply connected people we were made to be.

How Secure Bonds Wire Us for Love

God did not design this transformation to happen in isolation. He designed secure bonds to act as a conduit of grace and glory, to literally wire our brains for a stable, loving experience of life and relationship.

Think of a child who grows up consistently received with warmth, seen in her emotions, and welcomed back after conflict. Over time, her nervous system learns something foundational: I am safe. I matter. I can trust. That pattern shapes how she handles disappointment, how she repairs relationships, and how available she is to others when things get hard. Her brain has been formed for connection.

This is God's original design made visible. Secure attachment with safe people does in us what grace declares over us: you are wanted, you are held, you belong.

As adults, we still need exactly this. We need relationships where we can be known without being discarded, corrected without being shamed, and loved without having to perform. Through those relationships, our hearts and nervous systems are gradually reshaped. We become more peaceful, more resilient, and more free to love without keeping score.

What Happens When That Foundation Is Shaky

Narcissistic behaviors arise in all of us when we receive insecure bonds. When our brains don't form a deep, settled sense of being special and favored, we find other ways to try to secure that feeling. We chase admiration. We control. We compare, withdraw, or demand. We are still looking for what we were made for, just through strategies that can't actually deliver it.

This is worth sitting with, because it changes how we respond to people caught in those patterns, including ourselves.

Consider a ministry leader who runs himself into the ground trying to be indispensable, who can't receive feedback without shutting down, and who needs to be the most important person in every room. From the outside, it looks like arrogance. But underneath it is often a shaky foundation, a person who never quite learned at a deep level that he is simply enough. He is not living from his glory. He is living from his fear.

When we understand that, compassion becomes possible. Not excusing harm, not ignoring the damage these patterns cause, but seeing more clearly what is driving them. As we help one another develop secure, joy-based relationships, those grasping behaviors begin to fade. We increasingly walk in our grace and glory instead.

What Science Is Catching Up To

Here is what I find exciting: science is beginning to see what Scripture has long revealed.

Dr. Matthew Lieberman, a social cognitive neuroscientist at UCLA, gave a TEDx talk in which he made the case that our superpower as human beings is our ability to connect with others, and that our kryptonite is failing to recognize how essential that connection really is. His research shows that our need to be socially connected is as fundamental to our well-being as food or shelter.

That resonates deeply, because it is exactly what the biblical story has always said. We were not made to be self-sufficient. We do not flourish in isolation. We become more fully ourselves through connection.

And not just any connection. Secure, grace-filled, honest, joy-bearing connection. The kind that reflects the relational nature of God, whose image we bear.

Practical Implications for Everyday Life

This has real consequences for how we structure our days and our communities.

It means spiritual growth is not just about gaining more information. It is about learning how to actually receive God's delight. It means healing often requires not only prayer and insight, but also safe relationships that retrain the heart over time. It means the culture of a church or a small group matters as much as its doctrine. Are people truly seen here? Are they welcomed in their weakness? Is there room to be honest?

We can notice where fear is still driving us and get curious about it rather than feel ashamed. We can ask God to help us receive His grace not just as a doctrine we believe but as an experience we live from. We can practice staying present with people instead of withdrawing or performing. We can pursue relationships where honesty and kindness genuinely coexist.

These small acts matter because they move us back toward our design.

Living From Our Glory

We are crowned with glory and majesty. That glory is not a call to importance. It is a call to communion.

We reflect God most beautifully not when we dominate or impress or strive, but when we love deeply, receive grace freely, and remain faithfully connected to God and to one another.

When we live from that place, fear begins to loosen its grip. Relationships become places of healing rather than threat. And we begin, little by little, to live as the people God made us to be.

Yes, our glory is indeed a superpower.