Drastic Surgery, Not Plastic Surgery

UV 1276/10,000 Drastic Surgery, Not Plastic Surgery

But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord.

2 Corinthians 3 v 18

Change Management in the Kingdom of God is not restricted to the superficial or cosmetic level. It goes much deeper and is much more lasting. All believers in Christ should with unveiled faces behold the glory of God in Christ. The image of Christ is full of grace and truth. We too should be transformed into that same image, degree by degree, day by day, experience by experience, little by little. Transformation is a gradual process of maturing in the knowledge of Christ. The Word of God is a mirror to us of where we should be aiming to reach in terms of spiritual and holistic growth. When we look into the mirror of scripture we see two images, one of who and what we are with our strengths and weaknesses, our imperfections and flaws and the other image of the glory of Christ or His moral and holistic perfection, His flawlessness and holiness. The Spirit of the Lord then tells us, “ I want you to grow from what you are now to being like who you see in Christ”. As we desire wholeheartedly, He will give us the grace to grow more and more like Him.

The process of unveiling our eyes is an important step in our transformation. The world and the things we see and hear and feel have blinded our eyes. We should seek the help of the Holy Spirit to see better and more fully. The Lord will challenge our beliefs and our faith so that it expands. To our faith we need to add love, to our love knowledge and wisdom, to our knowledge we need to add diligence and perseverance, to our perseverance, we need to add patience. We need to excel or keep improving in each aspect of the abundant life. We need to abound in these qualities or fruit of the Spirit. Then only will we be like the first born of God, Jesus Christ. We will be His spiritual siblings. Then only will we be truly citizens of the kingdom of God. The kingdom of God means that God rules directly in us through His Spirit and His word.

While we strive towards the higher goal of being exactly like Jesus, we are already dwelling in glory. The expression “ from glory to glory” implies that we are moving from one level of perfection or righteousness to the next. We do not have to wait till we arrive in heaven to celebrate or rejoice. We are already dwelling in unity with God or we are intimately connected to His glory. The indwelling God is our glory. The vacuum in our hearts are filled. We are no longer frustrated and always reaching out in vain to something beyond us. We need to every day look into the glorious face of Jesus and appropriate more and more grace and more and more glory or power. We accelerate the pace of being absorbers and reflectors of God’s glory by increasing the intensity of our longing as well as the time we spend in His presence and in studying and applying His word in our everyday lives. As we do so, He does not do plastic surgery to make us look better or bring about cosmetic changes but He does drastic surgery to transform us.
Prateep V Philip