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Summary: We serve a God of powerful transformations. Throughout Scripture, God takes those whom the world deemed the lowest, the hopeless, and the helpless and uses them to change the world. God longs to break off that which inhibits you from experiencing the fullness of life. He longs to heal you, deliver you, and set you free. May your life be forever changed as we spend time discovering God’s heart for transformation.
“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 3:18 (ESV).
Growing as a Christian can feel daunting. We want to become more like Jesus, but we know we’ve got a long way to go, and we can often feel like we’re going backward. So, how can we grow? The answer is given in 2 Corinthians 3:18. This passage of scripture encourages us to look to Jesus while reminding us we are being transformed.
By truly seeing Jesus, we are transformed to become like Him, all through the enabling of the Holy Spirit. In other words, the more we look to Jesus, the more we will look like Him. God, by His Spirit, has opened our eyes to the glory of the eternal, omnipresent, omniscient, omnipotent, and immutable Jesus.
The more we see and admire Jesus’s glory, beauty, and holiness, the more we become like Him. Jesus lived a perfect life: He lived to please His heavenly Father and sacrificed His life for us.
But transformation, becoming more like Him, is not found in making up all sorts of strict rules about what we can or can’t do. Nor does it mean avoiding certain behaviors. To become more like Jesus, you can study His life, love others, and pray. It stands to reason that we cannot grow to be like someone we don’t know. The deeper our knowledge of Christ, the deeper our understanding of Him, and the more like Him we become.
If we want transformation, we have to be willing to work for it. The Christian life is 100 percent God’s work. The resurrection of Christ runs through our veins. But it is hard work from beginning to end. Transformation takes our mental powers, our willpower, and our muscle power.
Jesus changes people. Often, critics of the church say we are hypocrites, judgmental, and harsh. As fallen human beings, we certainly will not be perfect. However, we are people who have been saved by grace and transformed by the love of Jesus. How, then, could we condemn? Instead, we are to live transformed lives, take responsibility for making things right when we sin, take the time to see others and believe the best about them, and invite them to meet Jesus.
Discussion Questions:
- What is the barrier to understanding Jesus’ actions, identifying core principles of His ministry like love, compassion, and service, and then reflecting on how to practically apply those principles in your own life?