So I exhort the elders among you, as a fellow elder and a witness of the sufferings of Christ, as well as a partaker in the glory that is going to be revealed: shepherd the flock of God that is among you, exercising oversight, not under compulsion, but willingly, as God would have you; not for shameful gain, but eagerly; not domineering over those in your charge, but being examples to the flock. And when the chief Shepherd appears, you will receive the unfading crown of glory.

There is an attractive element to glory that our desires are magnetized towards. The problem is that we are not good at distinguishing the lesser glories from the greater.

A measure of glory’s inequalities is in its longevity. An eternal glory is much more valuable than a temporal one, like a solid gold coin in relation to gold-wrapped chocolate one. But many times they do appear similar.

Peter exhorts the elders to pursue an unfading crown of glory in hopes that the rest of the flock would follow. The fading crown is the glory of the position, the recognition and power that comes from leading others. This is the kind of glory that is gained, but the true crown is always given.

Notice that Peter, one of the original 12 disciples, the one who physically saw Jesus’ transfiguration, uniquely commened as the rock of the church, the one who had every right to claim an authority, simply identifies himself as a peer to a far-off struggling leadership. For Peter, the greatest honor was not a title or respect from man but as one who was found worthy to partake in the glory of God. After all, who can even remember all 12 disciples?

While the glories of a leader can be attractive - people paying you respect and honor, basking in your own recognition and applause, wielding power and authority - these are the very things that taste sweet but quickly fade. Such glory will only last as long as the people under you are around. It will not apply when you are surrounded by people above. Like the captain of a high school football team surprised that he has to carry the bags in the NFL, it won’t hit us until we see what is greater.

But even if everything were to go right for our perplexed friend, it would still fade.

Duane Thomas, running back for the Dallas Cowboys, when asked before Super Bowl VI about playing in the ultimate game: “If it's the ultimate game, how come they're playing it again next year?”