Who Are You?
When you look in the mirror, what do you see? Do you see reflected back to you the images of a fun house mirror, crazy photo booth effects, or a magnifying mirror? Are you a spiritual anorexic looking in the mirror through a veil, the veil that distorts the glory of the living God bestowed upon you? Or, can you see it? Can you see God Himself moving, breathing, creating, with increase, His glory onto the canvas of you?
Let's look at 2 Corinthians 3:7-18:
Let's look at 2 Corinthians 3:7-18:
7 Now if the ministry of death, chiseled in letters on stones, came with glory, so that the Israelites were not able to look directly at Moses’ face because of the glory from his face—a fading glory— 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? 9 For if the ministry of condemnation had glory, the ministry of righteousness overflows with even more glory. 10 In fact, what had been glorious is not glorious now by comparison because of the glory that surpasses it. 11 For if what was fading away was glorious, what endures will be even more glorious.12 Therefore, having such a hope, we use great boldness. 13 We are not like Moses, who used to put a veil over his face so that the Israelites could not stare at the the end of what was fading away, 14 but their minds were closed. For to this day, at the reading of the old covenant, the same veil remains; it is not lifted, because it is set aside only in Christ. 15 Even to this day, whenever Moses is read, a veil lies over their hearts, 16 but whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit. 2 Corinthians 3:7-18
It is my prayer that God remove any veil covering our hearts, minds, eyes, or even ears so that we can truly see what He sees. That God would take us deeper into seeing. Revealing to us how He sees, not just what He sees, but give us supernatural knowledge of the process He engages in when He looks... at us, those around us, our circumstances, our hearts, our thoughts... May God surprise us with His utter and unending glory and goodness so that His Kingdom reigns in our lives, and we are empowered to continue to establish that Heavenly Kingdom everywhere we set our feet.
Who are you? Today television, technology, and social media effortlessly place the perfection of the human image, its beauty, form and function, in the forefront of our minds' eyes. We cannot escape the war unscathed. Everywhere our eyes take us, we are bombed with a standard of excellence only satisfied by striving. Almost ironically, the effort needed to achieve such perfection is in direct contrast to the ease at which the standard is made available to us.
Who are you? If you are a child of God, a follower of The Way, the standard you are measured by is not the exploitation of the human image placed constantly in our faces, but your measuring stick is instead... the glory of God. You might be saying to yourself, "And just how is that supposed to make me feel better?! How could I possibly measure up to the glory of God? My friends' lives on Facebook are bad enough. But, the glory of God?! Explain that!" Well, let's look back at Paul's words in 2 Corinthians:
Who are you? Paul tells us in verse 17 that "whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is removed." When the veil is lifted off our faces, like that of a bride, our eyes can see clearly. What is it we are looking at once our sight is unhindered? Verse 18 tells us we are looking at "the glory of God." God's grace for us is to turn to Him so that He can show us Him in us. We are wooed into covenant with Him, the bridegroom, and He pulls back our veil so that we can look at His glory. His glory, doxa (Greek), literally means "what evokes good opinion." When we get lost gazing at Him, His glory speaks to us of our own "inherent, intrinsic worth." God's grace for us is to turn to Him so that He can show us Him in us.
Who are you? With veil removed, look in the mirror. God's glory abounds to shine on you kindling His fire of dreams, visions, gifts and callings in your life. Look closely... Look intently... Look with joyful anticipation for God's glory to spark the glory fire He birthed in you from the beginning of time. Look to find the reflection of His glory that only you can be.
Who are you? When we "look," by definition we direct our gaze toward someone or something or in a specific direction. Who we are then, according to Paul, can be determined by who, what or in which direction we are looking. The temptation of the enemy is to distract your gaze with oppositional people, disaster, less than ideal circumstances, an incurable diagnosis, loss... and the list could continue. Reverting our eyes away from the glory of God, gives the enemy the ability to steal, kill, and destroy the unique glory God bestowed on each of us. What we look at matters. Take David in the Bible for instance. (Part of his story can be read in 2 Samuel 11:1-4.) David was a man after God's own heart, a warrior and a king. Yet, when his gaze was distracted by a bathing beauty, Bathsheba, he gave the enemy territory to roam freely and wreak havoc not just in his own life, but in the lives of others as well.
Who are you? It matters. It matters not just for your sake, but for the sake of the people around you. Perseverance is "the steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success." We do not persevere with the enemy's many attempts at distracting us. We persevere in staying focused, intently gazing at the glory of God. Because as we gaze at His abundant goodness "we are being transformed into [His] image from glory to glory." (2 Corinthians 3:18) Transformed... Our sight set on Him and not on the things around us transforms us... The Greek gives depth to the word transformed. In the original language it is the word metamorphoo where we get our word metamorphosis. Metamorphoo is two words "Meta" which means to change after being with and "morphoo" meaning changing form in keeping with inner reality. Time spent face to face with God, gazing at all His glory changes us from the glory bestowed on all humankind to the glory of Christ Himself.
Who are you? Who or what are looking at? What do you see? When we allow the enemy to distract us from who we are, a reflection of the glory of Almighty God, we live a life of compromise to Truth. We live unfulfilled, joyless lives because we don't see the glory God has equipped us with to accomplish the destiny He ignites deep within us. For me, I see glory, the crowing glory of all God's creation. Persevere to engage with God's glory allowing it to transform you into greater glory, the glory of who you've always hoped and dreamed to be.
18 We all, with unveiled faces, are looking as in a mirror at the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.Looking back at the original Greek in this verse, "are looking as in a mirror" means to reflect as a mirror; to mirror. So, we, those children of God and followers of The Way, are actually reflecting God and His glory.
Who are you? Paul tells us in verse 17 that "whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is removed." When the veil is lifted off our faces, like that of a bride, our eyes can see clearly. What is it we are looking at once our sight is unhindered? Verse 18 tells us we are looking at "the glory of God." God's grace for us is to turn to Him so that He can show us Him in us. We are wooed into covenant with Him, the bridegroom, and He pulls back our veil so that we can look at His glory. His glory, doxa (Greek), literally means "what evokes good opinion." When we get lost gazing at Him, His glory speaks to us of our own "inherent, intrinsic worth." God's grace for us is to turn to Him so that He can show us Him in us.
Who are you? With veil removed, look in the mirror. God's glory abounds to shine on you kindling His fire of dreams, visions, gifts and callings in your life. Look closely... Look intently... Look with joyful anticipation for God's glory to spark the glory fire He birthed in you from the beginning of time. Look to find the reflection of His glory that only you can be.
Who are you? When we "look," by definition we direct our gaze toward someone or something or in a specific direction. Who we are then, according to Paul, can be determined by who, what or in which direction we are looking. The temptation of the enemy is to distract your gaze with oppositional people, disaster, less than ideal circumstances, an incurable diagnosis, loss... and the list could continue. Reverting our eyes away from the glory of God, gives the enemy the ability to steal, kill, and destroy the unique glory God bestowed on each of us. What we look at matters. Take David in the Bible for instance. (Part of his story can be read in 2 Samuel 11:1-4.) David was a man after God's own heart, a warrior and a king. Yet, when his gaze was distracted by a bathing beauty, Bathsheba, he gave the enemy territory to roam freely and wreak havoc not just in his own life, but in the lives of others as well.
Who are you? It matters. It matters not just for your sake, but for the sake of the people around you. Perseverance is "the steadfastness in doing something despite difficulty or delay in achieving success." We do not persevere with the enemy's many attempts at distracting us. We persevere in staying focused, intently gazing at the glory of God. Because as we gaze at His abundant goodness "we are being transformed into [His] image from glory to glory." (2 Corinthians 3:18) Transformed... Our sight set on Him and not on the things around us transforms us... The Greek gives depth to the word transformed. In the original language it is the word metamorphoo where we get our word metamorphosis. Metamorphoo is two words "Meta" which means to change after being with and "morphoo" meaning changing form in keeping with inner reality. Time spent face to face with God, gazing at all His glory changes us from the glory bestowed on all humankind to the glory of Christ Himself.
Who are you? Who or what are looking at? What do you see? When we allow the enemy to distract us from who we are, a reflection of the glory of Almighty God, we live a life of compromise to Truth. We live unfulfilled, joyless lives because we don't see the glory God has equipped us with to accomplish the destiny He ignites deep within us. For me, I see glory, the crowing glory of all God's creation. Persevere to engage with God's glory allowing it to transform you into greater glory, the glory of who you've always hoped and dreamed to be.
