The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Behold!"
Part 1 - The Mirror
"Beholding as in a glass (mirror) the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (II Corinthians 3:18).
If the Greek word for "glass" used by the Apostle Paul referenced a window, we might find his meaning less challenging. "Oh, I see. I look out and away from myself, and see God's glory!"
"Katoptrizo," however, means glass mirror. Paul calls born again believers in the Lord Jesus Christ to look into God's reflective, as it were, and see His glory in ourselves. Therein, another seemingly unlikely "Behold" beckons us:
"If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature. Old things are passed away, behold, all things are become new" (II Corinthians 5:17, emphasis added).
Again, really Lord? "How can it be?" must be the initial response of every believer to such seemingly unlikely truth regarding ourselves. We are all such works in progress, who may sometimes even feel or appear to be works in regress. Beholding ourselves in God's mirror to see His glory and that "all things are become new" may often seem like the most fanciful of notions. The matter involves obedience, however, to a most vital command. Seeing ourselves as God sees us involves a most serious responsibility, and a mandate we overlook or disobey to sad consequences and much loss.
"He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief" (Matthew 13:58).
In His hometown, lack of trust hindered the Lord Jesus Christ from doing much of what could have been done for His Father's glory and the benefit of people. Believers are now the Savior's home. "God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba Father… I will dwell in them and walk in them" (Galatians 4:6; II Corinthians 6:16). As we trust Him, He does "many mighty works" in us, works often unbeknownst to us, but known by God and to the great benefit of others. If, however, we do not trust His involved and dynamic presence in us - if we do not "behold as in mirror the glory of the Lord" as God commands - we will join Capernaum in stifling much of the grace that could flow through the "new creature" we are in Christ.
Over the next few days, we will ponder together what it means to look into the mirror referenced by Paul, beholding God's glory and being "changed into the same image" thereby. Much benefit and spiritual encouragement await us as an infusion of the power of God, based on the truth of God, will enable a far more faithful walk and far more fruitful works. Most importantly, the Lord Jesus will be glorified as His abiding presence will lead and guide us in the wonder of…
"Christ in you, the hope of glory."
(Colossian 1:27)
Weekly Memory Verse
Let the redeemed of the LORD say so, whom He hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy,"
(Psalm 107:2)
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