This
morning I discovered a very helpful illustration of a favorite Bible verse. Here
is the verse, and a summary of today’s lesson. Paul wrote, “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.”[1]
What
keeps standing out to me is this whole idea of believers in Jesus Christ being
changed on a daily basis into the same image as our Lord Jesus Christ, “from
one degree of glory to another.”
I
assure you that I would never have thought of saying it like that. I would have
come up with something a little more negative, but still hopeful. You know,
like saying, every day God changes me a little bit more from the scum-bucket,
good for nothing, louse of a Christian that I am, into a teensy, tiny, sliver
of improvement that is heading out on a very long road to being like Jesus. Can
you see why I like God’s way of saying it much better?!
The
illustration of how God can describe his work in us as a constant
transformation “from one degree of glory
to another,” is that of a heat pump. Now, I’m not going to try to explain
the mechanics of how a heat pump is able to do what it does, but I will state
the explanation of what it does.
In
short, a heat pump captures the heat particles that are in the air, and pumps
them either into or out of the house. While we may think that air is either hot
or cold, a heat pump distinguishes the amount of heat particles that are in the
air, whether many (hot), or few (cold).
In
the wintertime, the heat pump is able to capture the heat particles that are in
the outside air, and pump them into the house, warming up our homes. In the
summertime, the heat pump is able to capture the heat particles that are in the
house and send them outside to play. Whether we think of this as heating, or
cooling, all the heat pump ever does is move heat particles into or out of our
homes.
This
gives me a sense of how God thinks in terms of the glory he is creating in us,
even though the amount of glory seems like a few distant particles of heat
trying to find each other in an Antarctica winter’s day. Yes, there are heat
particles in the middle of an Antarctica winter, and there is glory growing in
the heart of the most immature child of God. The wonder is that it is God who
sees it that way!
A
ministry that has been especially helpful to me in nurturing a positive, joyful
focus in life, encourages us to face everything with the mindset of how much
more we could grow up in joy. This does not suggest that we ignore problems (as
we cannot ignore the cold we feel on a winter’s day), but to see each other as
people who are in a constant state of improvement, giving daily reasons for joy
in God, and in each other.
The
point is that, those of us who have been taught to focus on the negatives so
that we can make people happy by fixing them, can sit at the feet of Jesus and
learn how to enjoy the smile that is on his face towards us. He sees the
particles of glory that are in our lives since our justification by faith, and
he knows that our time spent with him will result in our inner life warming up
by at least a few more degrees of glory.
This
positive focus on even the minutest degrees of glory in one another’s lives
does not mean that we ignore sin in the church. We would never put the most efficient
heat pump into our home while allowing broken windows to go unaddressed. Broken
windows will let those precious heat particles escape in the winter when the
heat pump is trying to cram as many of those little fellars into our home as
possible. They will also let those heat particles sneak back into the house in
the summer when the heat pump is trying to corral them all and send them
outdoors.
In
the same way, focusing on the glory in us that could increase to another degree
of glory does not mean that we deny that sin leaves gaping holes in the church
that diminishes, and sometimes destroys, all our efforts to grow up in Christ. It’s
just that, even in fixing broken windows, or trying to restore people who have
fallen into sin,[2]
our focus is on how to become more like Jesus from one degree of glory to
another.
As
a practical suggestion, when dealing with areas you sense are in need of
improvement in your life, think of how you would speak to yourself about this
in a way that sounds like you recognize the degree of glory that already exists
within you, and you want to see how that could expand into an even greater
degree of glory. In other words, think glory, and try to describe the improvement
in terms of the increase of glory.
The
same holds true when looking at other believers.[3]
While it may be easy to think in negatives like, “if they would just stop doing…”
remind yourself to focus on the degree of glory that is already in this fellow
child of God, and consider how you could work your encouragement to best facilitate
that increase in glory you would like to see.
If
nothing else, let us seek to follow Paul’s example of thinking in terms of
yourself, and every believer you know, as the present work of God to conform us
into the same image as our Lord Jesus Christ, and that this means we are
changing from that impossible degree of glory that is already ours in Christ,
into ever-increasing degrees of glory that magnify the grace of God to make
such a thing possible.
If
nothing else, here is the hope set before us: “Beloved, we are God's children
now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears
we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”[4] If
God can make us fully like Jesus in the end, he can change us from one degree
of glory to another today. We can join him in that work with our own focus on
the growing likeness of Christ that is growing in every believer we meet.
And
if, at the end of the day, you realize that something improved in a
relationship because you looked for glory in yourself or someone else (instead
of garbage), please post a testimony in response to this blog post. I think it
would give God glory to share such things with one another.
© 2014 Monte Vigh ~
Box 517, Merritt, BC, V1K 1B8 ~ in2freedom@gmail.com
Unless otherwise
noted, Scriptures are from the English Standard Version (The Holy Bible,
English Standard Version Copyright © 2001 by Crossway
Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers.)
[1]
II Corinthians 3:18
[2]
Galatians 6:1
[3]
While being positive with unbelievers has some benefit, the mindset of glory
increasing in glory only works with those who have already been justified by
faith in Jesus Christ, who are presently being sanctified by the Holy Spirit,
and will most assuredly be glorified into the completed likeness of Jesus Christ.
[4]
I John 3:2
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