New Things

           I am not a maintenance person. That is, I don't seem to be very good in fixing mechanical things. That doesn't stop my curiosity and so I usually take an object that is broken and take it all apart just to see if I could discover something so obvious that I could repair it. There are those times, however, when a spring pops off and you don't know where it came from and hence there is no chance in getting it back to the way it was. The broken items would then be put in the trash with the exception of every screw, washer and nut that could possibly be used somewhere, sometime in the future. They all end up in the great storage coffee can. I often come out of the whole repair scenario with a handful of parts but no solution as to how to fix it. I don't understand how a hard disc can possibly work nor can I understand just how a CPU works in the computer. That leads me to spiritual things. How am I changed? Second Corinthians 3:18 says, “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.” 

         This passage along with a couple of others in the New Testament, speaks about being transformed, or being “changed” as it appears in this verse. It is the same word that is used in Romans 12:2 and the same word that is used in reference to the Mount of Transfiguration where Christ was “transfigured.” It is the word from which we get “metamorphosis.” At this point, we usually use the illustration of the worm to cocoon, to butterfly. One can see the end result but the process still seems to be a mystery and is especially true when referring to the life of the believer in the Lord Jesus Christ. The process, in the case of the believer, is attached to one's beholding as in a “mirror, the glory of the Lord Jesus Christ. Our continuous gaze upon Him begins the process of change in our lives. It may be difficult to determine just how much you change from day to day and perhaps one can see some change from year to year. The more time we spend gazing upon the glory of the Lord, the more change that will occur in our spiritual lives. Even Peter did the seemingly impossible by walking on the water while his eyes were fixed upon Christ, but the moment, he took them off of the savior, he began to rapidly sink like a rock. I can't take it apart and see how it works, but it does work. I will just accept what God does and not be concerned as to how He does it. I put it alongside such things as the sealing of the Holy Spirit, the baptism into the body of Christ and being born of God. You have perhaps seen those images that when you look at them for 60 seconds and then close your eyes, you see the of the image as it is supposed to be. The hymn writer expressed it well with, “Turn your eyes upon Jesus, Look full in His wonderful face. And the things of earth will grow strangely dim In the light of His glory and grace .” Praise God today for the change that He is doing in all of the lives of each and every believer.