In 2 Cor. 3:16-18 Paul speaks of the process of transformation, how we are being transformed into the same image as Christ from glory to glory. May we be those who continually turn their heart to the Lord so that any veil would be taken away!
When we read the Bible, do we see the Lord face to face? Do we have the glory of God shining on the face of Jesus Christ in our spirit whenever we come to God’s word? Or is there a veil lying on our face, and we don’t clearly see the Lord?
Daily we need to practice to turn our heart to the Lord so that any veil would be taken away, and we would see the Lord face to face. When we behold the Lord’s face, we are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another degree of glory!
What we behold, that’s what we reflect – if we behold the world, TV, football, Facebook, etc we will reflect them by speaking about them and being interested in them. But whenever our heart turns to the Lord, any veil from our face is taken away and we clearly see the Lord.
As we behold the Lord face to face, we are being transformed by having Christ infused into us and added to us to replace what we are. In this way, Christ increases and we decrease! Eventually, Christ will become our genuine beauty and glory, and what we express is Christ Himself shining out through us.
Lord Jesus, we love You! Turn our heart to You, Lord, that we may behold You face to face. We want to behold Your face in our spirit, reflect You, and be transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit!
Turning our Heart to the Lord to be Transformed in His Image
Many Christians have “a veil on their heart” as their read the Bible, just as the Jews have a veil on their heart as they listen to the law being read (2 Cor. 3:15). This veil is simply our unturned heart, our heart that is turned away from the Lord.
But WHENEVER our heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away (2 Cor. 3:16), and we enter into freedom, because today the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom! When we turn our heart to the Lord, the veil is taken away, and we behold the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ in our spirit.
Our heart is our “spiritual face”, having eyes which can be enlightened (Eph. 1:18) or being veiled if it is turned away from the Lord (2 Cor. 3:15-16). To have a heart turned to the Lord is not a small thing.
Our heart is set on so many other things, people, situations, problems, etc, that many times the Lord is not our focus. But when we turn our heart to the Lord, the divine and mystical machinery of God’s economy is put into motion, and we are being transformed into the same image as from the Lord Spirit.
There are at least four conditions our heart is in when it is turned to the Lord:
- Our heart is soft toward the Lord – when every inch of our heart is given to the Lord for the growth in life, our heart is soft toward the Lord, turned to Him fully. Lord, keep my heat soft and tender toward You!
- Our heart is pure toward the Lord (Matt. 5:8) – blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God! Being pure in heart means that our goal is Christ Himself and nothing else. Lord, purify our heart, and may our heart be pure toward You!
- Our heart is loving the Lord (Mark 12:30) – we need to have the love of God filling our heart so that we may love Him with all of our heart. Lord, thank You for commanding me to love You. Keep my heart always loving You.
- Our heart is at peace – when we have a conscience void of offense toward God and man, our heart is at peace toward God and man. We need to deal with our heart until we have the peace of God. Lord, may there be no problem between us and You and us and others!
If we don’t turn our heart to the Lord today, even right now, it will be more difficult to turn our heart to the Lord tomorrow or later. The moment we don’t have a heart turned to the Lord, the veil returns, and we don’t see the Lord clearly. But whenever the heart turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away, and we are in the process of being transformed into the same image!
Lord, keep our heart turning to You until nothing else distracts us from beholding You face to face all the time. We want to look into Your face, Lord, that we may behold You and reflect You and be transformed. Transform us into the same image. Lord, keep our heart turned to You so that we may have a clear vision of Your heart’s desire, Your economy, and Your recovery!
The Inward Metabolism Produces Genuine Health and Beauty
God is not into outwardly correcting and adjusting people, helping them to be better Christians and more proper human beings. God doesn’t want us, His believers, to keep a certain kind of rules outwardly and to strive to keep His commandments so that we are more ethical, moral, and upright people.
What God desires is to come into man to be his life, and then grow in man until from within to without man is transformed into God’s image. If we as believers in Christ are willing to grow in the divine life, the element of the divine life will increase in us and will bring forth a metabolic change.
As we eat and drink Christ, allowing Him to be digested and assimilated into us, our inward disposition will be transformed and our outward image will also be transformed to be the same as the image of the Lord (see 2 Cor. 3:18).
Religion helps man put on some make-up and “look spiritual”, pious, godly, and righteous, but God wants His believers to grow in life until there’s a metabolic change in their being, and they shine forth God! Only that which is expressed outwardly through the inward metabolism is genuine health and real beauty (see Exo. 28:2; Rom. 13:14, 12).
We shouldn’t practice self-cultivation or self-improving, but rather allow Christ to grow in us and be manifested through us. The divine life we received at the time of our regeneration takes our whole inward being through a metabolic process of transformation, and the result is that we have genuine health and beauty.
We want the genuine health and beauty of Christ shining out of our being! For this, we need to be clothed with Christ’s divine attributes (glory) and His human virtues (beauty) by living Christ, allowing Christ to live through us to become our genuine health and beauty.
As we eat Christ, drink Christ, and breathe in Christ, He is being digested and assimilated into us, and we will have the genuine health and beauty of the Lord Jesus, expressing Him outwardly by shining Him out!
Don’t pay attention to “beautifying yourself” or having a better self by a lot of self-analysis and self-improvement; rather, pay attention to living and walking by the Spirit (Gal. 5:16, 25) so that the divine life within may regulate you, fill you, and transform you into the same image as the Lord in glory!
Lord Jesus, we open to You. Cause our heart to be turned to You. Keep our heart turned to You, Lord, that we may behold You and reflect You. Transform us from within through this metabolic process, so that we may be genuinely healthy and express Christ in His beauty and glory. Lord, gain the glorious image of Christ in all the saints. Make us willing to grow in life and cooperate with You in this process of transformation!
References and Further Reading
- Inspiration: bro. Ed Marks’ sharing in the message and portions in, The Organic Aspect of God’s Salvation (pp. 52-53) and, The Secret of God’s Organic Salvation — “the Spirit Himself with Our Spirit” (p. 41), as quoted in the Holy Word for Morning Revival on, “The Completing Ministry of Paul“, week 6 entitled, Growth in Life through the Transformation of Our Soul for the Building Up of the Body.
- Further reading: recommending msgs. 23-24 from, Life-study of 2 Corinthians (by Witness Lee).
- Sharing on the same topic: The Amazing Process of Transformation as Revealed in the Bible (via holdingtotruth.com)
- Hymns on this topic:
# Lord, keep my heart always true to You, / Never backsliding, always viewing You, / A heart that is pure that sees only You, / A heart that loves You and treasures only You.
# Lord, keep my heart open and soft toward You. / Lord, draw my eyes to see nothing else but You.
# Whenever the heart shall turn to the Lord, / The veil shall be taken away. / So turn your heart to the Lord all the day, / And the veil shall be taken away.
About aGodMan
Nicely said. Turning our hearts toward God and finding that relationship with Him that He has been waiting for actually changes us. It's amazing!