2 Cor. 3:18.
NOTHING so pains us as the consciousness of our lack of conformity to Christ. We admit the reasonableness of yielding our bodies a living sacrifice unto Him who hath saved us with an everlasting salvation; and in our happiest moments are constrained to sing,
All that I have, and all I am,
Shall be for over Thine.
Still we sorrow that this is so seldom our state of heart—that shame and confusion of face are so often our experience, rather than the joy of walking with God. We do well to lay this matter to heart.
While the Apostle Paul fully admitted that in him, that is in his flesh, dwelt “no good thing,” and that it was by the grace of God he was what he was, still we know he was so truly an imitator of the meek and lowly Jesus, that without presumption, he could say, “For me to live is Christ” (Phil. 1:21). While on another occasion he could appeal to the Thessalonian saints, thus, “Ye are witnesses, and God also, how holily and justly and unblameably we behaved ourselves among you that believe” (1 Thess. 2:10): and again to another Church: “Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ” (1 Cor. 11:1; see also Phil. 4:9).
It is to be feared that with many who sincerely desire to be practically following Jesus, the object is defeated by the way in which it is sought to be attained. One of the first thoughts that often suggests itself to a soul whose desires are afresh kindled for conformity to Christ, is to make a more zealous effort to attend to the outward observances of religion; and a warmer resolution to be more diligent in what may, and with some propriety, be termed Christian duties. But while these things are, in their proper place and season, highly deserving our culture; yet we may rest assured, that if we begin here, it is not beginning in the right direction. The conflict and correction must begin within, rather than in anything around; and our thoughts and position of soul towards the Lord Himself should first be most solemnly considered. The fleshly mind is ever ready to plan and arrange, with reference to things without; but the Spirit of God searches the heart, and ministers to the affections and conscience. The veil of unbelief is securely drawn over every natural heart; it is the noxious weed which the unregenerate soil spontaneously produces; and we sorrowfully know how rapidly this weed springs up, even in those who know the Lord. It is of the utmost consequence that we “keep our heart with all diligence,” lest this veil in any measure obtrude, dim our spiritual vision, and hinder our beholding the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, with an open and unveiled face. It is only when the eyes of our understanding are thus steadily set upon Jesus, the glorified Redeemer, that we are enabled truly to say, In Thy light we see light.
But it is especially while contemplating Jesus risen, and glorified as the Head of the Church, His body—realizing our personal interest, standing, and security in Him—beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord —that we become changed into the same image. How blessed the thought is! We are in Him that is true—complete in Christ, who of God is made unto us wisdom, and righteousness, and sanctification, and redemption (Col. 2:10, 1 Cor. 1:30). As the One who hath gotten Him the victory, the triumphant Redeemer of His people, the Conqueror of all our enemies, the Lord our righteousness, He sits on the right hand of God, crowned with glory and honour. It is with Christ in God that our life is hid. The Lord nourishes and cherishes the Church; “for we are members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones.” It is HIM we are to contemplate with a full assurance of faith; and our perfection in Him that we should seek to realize with a full assurance of understanding. Soul-comforting considerations! but how deeply important that our spiritual eyes should be anointed with eye-salve, that we may be able to look up into heaven, and rightly estimate our true position and standing in the Lord Jesus; realizing our everlasting and unchangeable relationship to God and the Lamb, by “beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord.”
There is no bondage in this: it is the happy liberty of the Spirit of God. It presents to us an already-accomplished salvation, for ever fixed, and secure from the reach of every foe. Souls thus exercised will be “glad in the Lord,” humbled under a sense of the exceeding riches of sovereign grace, melted with an increased feeling of utter unworthiness, and constrained to live only to Him who died for us, and rose again. A true spirit of worship takes possession of the heart, and a song of gratitude is the instinctive fruit of the lips; the inner man becomes strengthened in the grace of Christ Jesus; the world is only known as a Christ-rejecting territory, lying in the Wicked-one; sin is felt to be exceedingly sinful; the flesh is known as crucified with Christ, and the saints as raised up and seated in heavenly places in Him. The precepts of the word of God also are acknowledged as most suitable, and congenial to heaven-born heaven-bound pilgrims, and the commandments found to be “not grievous.” Hence the hidden, crafty, dishonest workings of the flesh, though often detected, are not tolerated, but denounced; and as the Lord Himself fills the eye and heart, so His divine characteristics shine forth in our walk and conduct, and we become increasingly conformed to His blessed example. We are kept in peace in the presence of God and the Lamb; we cast all our care upon Him who careth for us; we rejoice in Christ Jesus, worship God in the Spirit, and have no confidence in the flesh; we grow in the habit of comparing spiritual things with spiritual, and of weighing things only in the balance of the sanctuary; thus, by manifesting Christ, The Truth, we commend ourselves to every man’s conscience in the sight of God. “With open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.” (2 Cor. 3:18).
How perfect will this transformation be when the Lord returns! “Our vile body” will then be changed, and “fashioned like unto His glorious body” (Phil. 3:21). For this blessed perfection we wait, knowing that “when He shall appear we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2). Meanwhile, beloved, let us seek to be true followers of the holy child Jesus; not in fleshly efforts, but in the life and walk of faith; being daily nourished and strengthened by the soul-sustaining virtues of the blood of the Lamb.