ARE YOU CHANGING?

What about it? Are you a different person than you were one year ago? Five? Ten? Twenty? Let’s hope so. Especially if you are a Christian.

The apostle Paul counted on the possibility of change both for himself and others. And behind the changing he saw the Lord who is the Spirit. Here’s the way he expressed it to the Corinthians: "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another; for this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit" (2 Corinthians 3:18). The goal before us is to be changed into the likeness of Christ. The means for accomplishing this great task is in "beholding the glory of the Lord." The power to bring about the change is "from the Lord who is the Spirit."

We must learn to see! Recently I was reading about the artist Whistler’s power of actually seeing what he was looking at:

Leaning on the embankment wall, he [Whistler] would look long and steadily at a scene that appealed to his fancy, taking in all the details until the picture was stamped in his mind. If he had a companion, he would turn his back to the river and test his memory, saying in a spurt, "The sky is lighter than the water; the houses darkest. There are eight houses, the second is the lowest, the fifth the highest, the tone of all is the same...the first has two lighted windows, one above the other...the second has four..." and so on. If his companion said he was at fault at some point, he would turn around, look again, correct his mistake, turn again and once more recite from memory. That might happen a dozen times...

As with Whistler, so with us. Without really looking at Christ there is little hope we will bear his image. One of the secrets is in the beholding.

John Gipson

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