Here is the revelation shaping my life today – religious observances can replace the journey of becoming. We sell discipleship so short when we make it about doing and not becoming. We can serve the means with great committed attention but miss entirely the end that Jesus has designed for us – being like Him, the fullest expression of the truest form of me.
2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV
[18] 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.
Observation
So often we get the means confused with the end. Following Jesus is talked about as reading your bible, prayer, attending church, the disciplines. But these are the means not the end. The end is “being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory.” If the means don’t enable the end then change the means. If the means become a religious obligation devoid of joy and transformative impact, then change the means to a spirituality that enables the end to be realised. Everything good is corruptible. I have seen transformative church and I have seen religious church. I have read the word in the presence and intimacy of God and experienced its transformative beauty, and I have read it with rout obligation of task and felt its weight and joylessness.
Here is the key – “which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” Transformed into His image comes from being present to His presence. It comes from intimate engagement. If the means don’t end here then you will never know the end of likeness to Him. It’s as we contemplate His glory, in His presence, by the Spirits leading, does transformation into likeness take place. So if church, bible reading, prayer, whatever, don’t lead to presence then swap them up, change them out, do something different with them, or do something new. Discipleships’ end is transformed into His image, or its religious observance that God hates.
Key two – unveiled faces. We come just as we are. If you have not experienced the never ending flow of forgiveness, if you don’t joyously live in his unending grace, if you have not heard “this is my son who I am well pleased” spoken from heaven over you, if you don’t know that your perfectly right because of Jesus plus nothing, then you will come covered and covering up never leads to transformed glory. Being like him starts with the freedom to be present with God and this freedom comes because we know He loves us and has made us right for His presence.
Application
Come as I am into His presence to enjoy Him. Use whatever means enables me to enter into His presence that the end of transformed likeness might be journeyed into. Never allow the means to become the end of my discipleship journey.
Response
Thank you that the journey you lead me on is a journey into the fullness of the truest form of me. Thank you that you don’t call me to religious obligations to earn your favour, but rather because I live in your favour I am invited into your presence so that my personal experience may be the transformative impact in my life. Thank you that you meet me in church, in prayer, in the word, in the world, in so many ways and places that I can find a rhythm of intimacy that is perfect for me and not shaped by religious responsibilities.
Meditation
Meditate – being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory.
Consider:
Are the means the end in your journey?
Do I enjoy His presence with a rhythm of regularity?
JOURNEY DEEPER
