Being Transformed into His Image

2 Corinthians 3:18    But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit.
What a stunning promise...to be transformed into the image of the Lord.  This is God’s plan to return us to His original intention for humankind.  God, in the Garden of Eden, first made man in His own image but of course you know that Adam and Eve bartered that image away in exchange for a lie from Satan (Genesis 3).  God sent Jesus to live a life that showed us what the image of God in human form looks like and what an image-bearer could do through a Spirit filled, committed vessel.  After living that life example for us, Jesus paid the ultimate price required to buy back for us what man had given away.  Now we must return to His calling as image bearers through a process, which Paul describes here in these words to the Corinthian church.
Let’s examine this process step-by-step. Step one is an unveiled face. In our society the only time we are likely to see a veiled face is at the beginning of a bridal ceremony. We as the Bride of Christ often come to Him with the veil in place.  What does a veil do? It hides the real you. A bride cannot be known, recognized or have any intimacy with the bridegroom until she is willing to remove the veil that hangs between them.  As lovers of Jesus, we have to come with honesty, unveiled and willing to show Him our real self.  If we have scars, blemishes or emotional distresses we can only be known when we reveal those to Him.  He is our healer (mind, body and soul) but we will not be able to receive that healing until we are open, honest and willing to reveal our need to Him.
The next step listed is “beholding as in a mirror.”  What is the mirror you might ask—well, James gives us that answer. James 1:23-24 tells us “For if anyone is a hearer of the Word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like.” So, we must be looking into the Word to behold the image of God, the glory of the Lord as displayed in Jesus.  Jesus has sent that glory back to us through the infilling of Himself—the Holy Spirit birth and then baptism.
Our transformation is line upon line or step by step (Is. 28:10 “For it is precept upon precept, precept upon precept, line upon line, line upon line, here a little, there a little”), as Paul puts it here “from glory to glory”.  So, step three involves patient endurance as we apply the His Word to our lives and our circumstance letting His glory be worked out in our daily lives through obedience to His Word. Paul’s final phrase “just as from the Lord, the Spirit” reminds us that this is not a work we can do ourselves, it is only accomplished by the power of the Holy Spirit and directed from the Lord.
I want more glory of the Lord manifested in my life! So, I am committing to more veil removing, and more mirror gazing (Word reading and applying) for this coming year.  He can and will remove my spiritual scars, blemishes, wrinkle, smudges and frown lines as I expose them to Him with an unveiled soul.  Then He will give me revelation and application as I seek to see Him in His Word.  I’ve been in the process for many years, and I know I still have more glory to gain through submission to Him, His Word and His Ways!