We all have people we admire in one form or another. Possibly it’s a great athlete, a person who excels in your chosen career, or an amazing writer, for example. Those who are successful in one way or another, thousands often pay for their time to find out: ‘What’s their secret?’. We sit at the edge of our seats just to find out what they are doing, so that we can do it too. We want to know the numbered steps to get us from our current reality into theirs. We want the greater discipline, the better body, we want to write more, to be better, etc. But one thing I have learnt from listening to many successful people talk is that there is no short cut. It is daily disciplined decisions which lead to true success.
Unfortunately, that answer is never good enough for us. We are a generation that likes things quick, and fast paced solutions. I mean can you blame us? From microwave meals to 4G super fast internet, we have been fed a constant diet of quick fixes. Who wants to wait? And yes in some aspects of life there may be pills or systems which people have invented to get us the money or the body we desire in a short time, however most have proven to not have lasting effects as they ultimately do not change the underlying bad habits. “So, what does all this have to do with our christian walk,” you might ask?
‘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 by the Spirit of the Lord.’ – 2 corinthians 3:18 (emphasis added)
Have you noticed that the more people hang out with each other, the more similar they become? We can find this example especially true with those who have been married for a long time. Why is that? I believe it is because we become what we behold. That is why the scripture above states that if we continue to behold God’s glory (through spending time in His presence, the Bible etc), we will be transformed to look just like Him! Wow! Imagine one day waking up and looking just like Jesus, not necessarily in our physical image but in our very character.
So, how can we be transformed to look just like Jesus? It says in the scripture above that it happens from glory to glory, step by step, one day to the next. There is no quick short cut to glory. It is daily disciplined decisions. If we look at nature, a seed in dirty soil doesn’t immediately show its growth or what it will become. But as the seed dies in the soil, drinks up the nutrients it needs from the water and sun and etc, then one day, ‘Boom!’ A shoot appears—a sign of growth. It is the same in our christian walk; we can be striving daily to die to our flesh, to spend time in God’s presence, to read the word, etc, but you might often wonder: ‘What is the point?‘
Often we don’t see any sign of growth. But if we carry on striving, from glory to glory, slowly but surely we will see signs of growth, until one day we will look just like Him.
‘You don’t have to be blooming to be growing.’ – Ruth Simons
Take courage; as we behold Him daily, we will be more like Him. Even when we don’t see any sign, we are being changed into His image. So get your roots down deep into His Word, and build yourself up in the Lord. We are His workmanship, and from one degree of glory to another He is completing the work in which He started in us (Ephesians 2:10 & Philippians 1:6).
‘As you therefore have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him, rooted and built up in Him and established in the faith, as you have been taught, abounding in it with thanksgiving.’ – Colossians 2:6-7
