2 Corinthians 3:7-18 – give it a read first

v18 is where I started in the passage and it is a fantastic “glory climax”, but there is so much wonder in this chapter that sometimes we miss that Paul says, “we… are looking as in a mirror, at the glory of the Lord…”

All of us have sinned and come short of the glory, but when we received Jesus by faith we entered into his glory – Romans 3:24 says we were justified fully by his grace. We received it freely, fully, in justification, while we aren’t experiencing it fully, we ARE being sanctified day by day.

The false god of this age, 2 Corinthians 4:4 blinds us. Yet, Jesus came to give us Life and Light.

Back in 2 Corinthians 3:16, whenever a person turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. That’s right, whenever and whomever… when we TURN.

The veil gone, we can see, like in a mirror. In Paul’s day the mirror was often metal or bronze, darkly, 1 Corinthians 13:12 says only a reflection… But still, when we look at our face in a mirror – what should we be seeing? Our actions, attitudes, acknowledgements, acceptances, aspirations, changing. Every day we should see the glory of God growing in us; shining more fully like the sun’s glow on the dark predawn horizon, then more light, then a glimmer, then a half sun, and rising from dawn into the sky, through morning until the glory of mid-day.

Are you seeing the image of Christ developing in your life, from glory TO glory? Do you see it? Does it surprise you? Do you see yourself responding in life’s challenges differently today than last year, ten years ago, or maybe a day ago? Paul closes by saying this is from the Lord.

Earlier in this passage he says that just as the beauty of the Old Testament is missing the understanding without the New Revelation; so we are blessed with the Full Revelation, the Incarnation of Jesus. Then the Manifestation is he comes to live in us by his Spirit. Praise God for the Culmination that is yet to come. Yet, along the way, a Transformation is taking place.

Paul, speaking of the Old Covenant says it had been glorious (but) is not glorious now by comparison because of that glory that surpasses it.

So, day by day, looking in the mirror, you should see the glory of Jesus Christ growing as you are being transformed into the Same Image from glory to glory

Oh Yes

I could go on… but just as my hair was all over the place when I looked into the mirror this morning, and my face didn’t reflect the image I wanted, I had work to do… So it is with my Spiritual Journey.

I look into God’s Word, into my heart, to my thoughts and actions, and I must surrender to truth, to the power of the Spirit, and BE as I am BEING transformed.

2 Corinthians 3:4-5 says Such is the confidence we have through Christ before God. It is not that we are competent in ourselves to claim anything as coming from ourselves, but our adequacy is from God – I love the way the CSB uses that word “adequacy”. I don’t have anything, but God works in me to make what I have adequate to do what he is doing to transform me.

Oh the Glory – old and new, day to day. If you don’t know Fred Hammond, go search him and “Glory to Glory” – that’s the song ringing in my heart right now.

Go read ALL of 2 Corinthians 3. Meditate and ask God what he is saying to you. Read it again, and then a third time at least read vv16-18. Then do what I often say we should do every day – P.R.A.Y. – Pray, Read, Apply, and say, “Yes”

Look in the Mirror and watch the Glory Grow