Grace to Grace
“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”
2 Corinthians 3:17-18
We all
This is talking to all Christians.
Don’t count yourself out.
The bible is written personally to you!
Unveiled faces
Before we came to Christ, we could not see how beautiful Jesus was.
Now that we do see, everything has changed.
And even if our gospel is veiled, it is veiled to those who are perishing. In their case the god of this world has blinded the minds of the unbelievers, to keep them from seeing the light of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God.
2 Corinthians 4:3-4
Have you ever wondered why you understand the Gospel and some people just aren’t getting it? It is because the enemy is blinding them from seeing the Gospel.
The enemy loves to blind people from the Gospel because he knows that if their face is unveiled to who Jesus is then they will start to become like Jesus.
The enemy’s job becomes harder the more people whose face is being unveiled to the reality of who Jesus is.
For to this day, when they read the old covenant, that same veil remains uplifted, because only through Christ is it taken away. Yes, to this day whenever Moses is read a veil lies over their hearts. But when one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed.
1 Corinthians 3:12-16
Without being born again you can’t see the real meaning of this bible.
Without being born again you can’t see why Jesus is such a big deal.
We used to be veiled to the beauty of the Gospel, but now we see.
The results of being able to see the Gospel is that we slowly start to look like Jesus.
Being transformed
This transformation is not immediate.
If we cannot understand that we are being transformed and are not instantly transformed, we will walk our whole Christian life defeated.
One Degree of Glory to Another
As we behold his glory, we are all at different stages of growth.
It is not fair for me to compare myself to someone who has been beholding the glory of the Lord a lot longer than me. They should be further along.
This Comes From the Lord who is Spirit
The Lord is in control of my growth.
He saves you and grows you.
We would be terrible at being in control of our growth.
“Being confident of this, that he who began a good work will bring it to completion until the day of Christ Jesus.”
Philippians 1:6
Jesus is the one who saves me and grows me.
“I planted, apollos watered, but God gave the growth. So neither he who plants nor he who waters is anything, but only God who gives the growth.”
1 Corinthians 3:6-7
Are these verses saying that I can just sit back and do nothing while the Lord Grows me? That is not what I am saying or what the bible is saying
Hunger and Thirst
The way that the Lord grows you is by putting a hunger and a thirst in your heart for him.
Growth in the Lord is not a passive thing. Growth in the Lord is an active thing. He just provides the hunger and the thirst.
If you are a follower of Jesus. You might not be as far along in your walk as you want, but if you have hunger and thirst for him you are right where he wants you to be.
As a deer pants for flowing streams,
so pants my soul for you, O God.
My soul thirsts for God,
for the living God.
When shall I come and appear before God?
Psalms 42:1-2
I am nothing compared to the apostles and other men and women of God. The thing I have in common with them is the same hunger and thirst.
Don’t get discouraged when you see where you are in your walk compared to compared to where other people are at. This is not a competition.
Don’t check to see if you are crossing all the t’s and dotting all of the I’s, but make sure that you have a hunger and a thirst for Jesus Christ.
“Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they shall be satisfied.”
Matthew 5:6
The bible doesn’t say they might, but they shall be satisfied.
Don’t stop pursuing him when you aren’t getting results as fast as you want them.
He put another parable before them, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”
Matthew 13:31-32
The seed isn’t giving anything to the kingdom.
The tree then became something that everything flocked to.
