Not As It Is

I woke up really early one morning.

A group of us were going (well actually cruising) through Paul’s letters to the church in Corinth. I read 2 Corinthians 3 and was struck by this verse.

And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Corinthians 3:18)

When I read it in the context of Paul’s hailing of the New Covenant, it made me sit up and pay attention more than I had before, What I’ve noticed as I grow up is that there’s a state of healthy dissatisfaction with the way things are, and the way I am. By that I mean, I wake up and am aware that it’s a day I’ve never experienced before. It’s a day to do tings that I’ve never done before and perhaps impact and engage in lives as I’ve never done before in a way that can change lives like they’ve not been changed before.  Perhaps I can gain information, or be in a conversation that adjusts things in me and in the other person that benegits them and leads to growth.

I read what Paul tells the church in Corinth and his picture is that as we contemplate the Lord’s glory, we are being transformed into his image. That is to say the more I look, the more I change. Which means I am not the same and to do what I’m meant to do I am not meant to do it as I’ve done it before, because I’m ever being changed.

The desire to grow was in me regardless of being a Christian. Before that I wanted to gain more information that lead to transformation so I could be better at what I loved doing. The shift has been that in Christ all I want to become is more like Christ..This is particularly pressing because I’m only too aware that the change that needs to take place in my world means things cannot stay as it is and I cannot stay as I am.

It doesn’t negate the point of stopping and reflecting. It doesn’t mean I cannot rest and rejoice in who I am.  It is certainly not a relentless perfectionism that is never aware of what is praiseworthy and due my gratitude,

It does say that I look at who God is, who Jesus is and what the Kingdom is about, I then seen who I am and what the world is like around me. I see the gap between the two, and I trust the Holy Spirit that lives in me to bring about the change in me to realise who Jesus is more and let that affect the world in which I live.

That’s particularly the case in church life, where I find it easy to get distracted by what’s wrong and what should happen. Whilst complaining there, I miss out on what I’m supposed to be doing and how I’m supposed to be living to realise what can be.

That’s why faith and hope drives me on, because in Christ I see the answer and it is in a world that is not as it is at present.

For His Name’s Sake

Shalom

C. L. J. Dryden