THE NATURE OF SPIRITUAL LIFE " -- Tomorrow:
"But even unto this day, when Moses is read, the veil is upon their heart. Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit: and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." (2 Cor 3:15-18, KJV)
Devotion 27 of 33
CHANGED INTO THE SAME IMAGE, #1
The "change" of reference is not simply refraining from unacceptable conduct. Properly perceived, stopping the use of drugs is not "change!" Refraining from immoral practices is not "change!" Stopping the practice of stealing, or lying, or maltreatment of one's neighbor, is not "change." All of those things can be accomplished without Jesus, without the Spirit, and without beholding the glory of the Lord. It is what we BECOME that constitutes "change," not merely what we cease to do.
One might argue that such a definition is not significant enough – that what we do not do is a most critical part of being "changed." From one point of view, this may appear to be a correct assessment – but it is not altogether proper. When "change" is defined by what we no longer do, it is because ceasing this or that is what produced the change. Such a change was not the result of one's nature, or basic constitution, but of a disciplinary approach. Proper spiritual change is the REASON for ceasing sinful habits, not the result of that cessation. That is, a moral change has taken place in the individual that has made transgression repulsive.
But let us get more to the text, and leave this philosophical approach. It is what we are changed "into" that is the real point! As we behold the glory of the Lord in the Gospel, we are "changed INTO THE SAME IMAGE" that we are beholding! The reflected image that we are beholding is not our own, but that of Jesus Christ – "the face of Jesus Christ" (2 Cor 4:6), or His Person. In other words, we become "like Him" in character, or our basic person – which is the predestinated purpose of God (Rom 8:29).
Ultimately, when the Lord appears in all of His own glory, being unveiled by the Father (1 Tim 6:15), then we shall also "appear with Him in glory" (Col 3:4). At that time, in the fullest and most precise sense, "we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is" (1 John 3:2).
In the meantime, we are being "changed" into His image within – being prepared, so to speak, to be "clothed upon with our house which is from heaven" (2 Cor 5:2). Just as Jesus, while He was maturing in this world, "increased in wisdom . . . and in favor with God" (Lk 2:52), so those who "behold the glory of the Lord" are now increasing in "wisdom and spiritual understanding" (Col 1:9), and growing "in favor with God."
This "change into the same image" is a moral and spiritual transformation. That is, it is an inward change that impacts the entirety of our life in this world, and before the Lord "with whom we have to do" (Heb 4:13). We are being "transformed by the renewing of our mind" (Rom 12:2), or "renewed in the spirit of your mind" (Eph 4:23). That is, we are being brought to perceive things as the Lord sees them. We are acquiring His nature, participating in His life, and realizing His preferences. It is what Scripture refers to as being "made partakers of Christ," and "participating in the Divine nature" (Heb 3:14; 2 Pet 1:4).
Whereas once we were fundamentally unlike God, although created in His image (Rom 3:23), now we are being modified at the foundation of our persons. In a fallen world and in a corrupt body, we are actually making progress toward the Divine likeness. The "new man," created in Christ Jesus (2 Cor 5:17), is "renewed in knowledge after the image of Him that created him" (Col 3:10).
PRAYER POINT: Father, in the name of Jesus, I thank You for a change that induces a hatred for sin and a love for righteousness.