“Are you so foolish? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?” Galatians 3:3
Dear Ones:
Over and over again in the Scriptures, and in every day life, we discover afresh the reality of the Lord’s words through Isaiah, “‘….My thoughts are NOT your thoughts, neither are your ways my ways,'” (Is. 55:8) This is true especially when it comes to the worship of the Lord, and His transforming work in us. There is a massive difference between “trying” to be like Christ, and “trusting” Him to be in and through us what He desires to be. The words from John’s gospel ring loud and clear in this respect when he writes: “Abide in Me, and I in you, …He that abides in Me and I in Him, the same brings forth much fruit.” (Jn. 15:5) Being conformed into the image of Christ is NOT realized by trusting in ourselves, in any shape or form. Paul writes to the Corinthian church, “But we ALL, with open face beholding as in a glass (mirror) the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as BY THE SPIRIT of the Lord.” (2 Cor. 3:18) God’s way is NOT striving in the flesh, but beholding Christ in truth by the Spirit. It is as we see Him, beholding His glory, that the Spirit reveals Him in us, according to our faith. We are IN Christ, and He is IN us. We are to live in this blessed perspective and reality. But how?
To understand this principle, and the increasing realization of it in our lives, we go back to Paul’s letter to the Galatians. He writes: “Received ye the Spirit by the works of the Law, or by the hearing of faith?” (Gal. 3:2) In the book of Romans, Paul continues: “…faith comes by hearing by the word of God.” (Rom. 10:17) What do these verses, and truths, have to do with being transformed into the image of Christ? They have to do with God’s WAYS. His way is the revelation of Christ, according to the truth, by the Spirit. Hence, we SEE Christ in the Scriptures, and have the witness to our hearts that what we see is true. It is as we behold Christ by faith, that we are strengthened to appropriate HIM as our life. The more we see Who and What He is, and what we are in Him, the more God strengthens us to partake of Him in a very clear, and specific way. We ABIDE in Him, and He abides in us. So that, this transformation is not our effort to change ourselves, but the manifestation of the living Christ by the Spirit through us. The fruit of the Spirit, that specific manifestation of the life of Christ’s nature, is revealed in and through us as we live, walk, and are led by the Spirit. To trust God to fill us with the Spirit, is to believe Him to fill us with Christ, by His Spirit…and this in an ever-increasing manner, from “glory to glory.” How is this to be done?
Practically speaking, we begin with what the Psalmist has declared: “I have SET my king upon My holy hill of Zion.” (Ps. 2:6) God has established Christ as King, and so, we must take Him to be our king, our sovereign Lord. David would express the taking of this position when he wrote: “I have SET the Lord always before me: because He is at my right hand I shall not be moved.” (Ps. 16:8) Then, the Apostle Paul writes to the Colossians, “…Seek those things which are above, where Christ sitteth on the right hand of God…SET your affection on things above.” (Col. 3:1,2) God has SET His Son to be King, established His kingdom, and given us access to it, by giving us access to Him. It is we, by faith, “SET our lives IN Him, and derive all from Him by that inward aspiration of faith,” that He transforms us into His image. This is His work, and He shall have all the glory.
Dear Father, Thy ways are not ours, for Your work and glory are Yours alone. Give us grace to realize this, and then, to turn to Thee for grace to abide in Thy Son, knowing that He WILL abide in us, changing us from within. We praise and thank Thee for the immeasurable gift of Thy Son, and for this indissoluble union with Him. “One with Himself, we cannot die.” Hallelujah! In Jesus’ name, amen.
Love, Dad