Tag Archives: Focus on Jesus

UNVEILED FACE: 012415

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“We all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image…” —2 Corinthians 3:18

Here’s what this means.  After Moses went up on the mountain to receive the Law on the tablets of stone, from God, he was so affected by being in God’s Presence (and having God’s tablets in his hands) that his (Moses’) face shown with such a brilliance that the Israelites couldn’t stand to look at him; so he put a veil over his face, to ‘dim’ the glory of the Lord.

2 Corinthians 3: 7  .  . and if the ministry of death, [the Law] written and engraved on stones, was glorious,  .  .  . 8 how will the ministry of the Spirit not be more glorious? 11 For if what is passing away [the Law] was glorious, what remains [life in the Spirit] is much more glorious.” (The glory of the Lord that comes from the Spirit being in our hearts is much more glorious than the glory of Moses with the Law on the tablets in his hands.)

“15 But even to this day, when Moses is read, a veil lies on their (the Israelites’) heart. 16 Nevertheless when one turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.” [So] we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror [in our own faces] the glory [of the Spirit] of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord.”  So because we have the Spirit, the veil has been taken away, and when we look at ourselves, having the Spirit in our hearts, it’s like looking in the mirror and seeing God looking back at us. and we are being changed (transformed) into the image of Jesus day by day; and the glory of Jesus keeps showing up in our faces, over and over! Keep looking, and you’ll begin to see Jesus!

GIVING THANKS IN ALL THINGS. 092914

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“In everything give thanks: for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.”  Let’s see, that sounds almost exactly like Romans 8:28, “All things work together for good to them that love the Lord, to them that are the ‘called’ according to His purpose.”  If we are sitting in the middle of God’s purpose, and He is working everything out for good to US; we really can give thanks in all things, no matter what they may look like to the untrained eye, to the natural, non-Spirit-filled person on the street.  And it sounds like giving thanks in all things puts us in the middle of God’s will in Jesus.  That’s just another reason to ‘rejoice evermore’.  It’s a festival of love and praise and worship and thanksgiving all rolled into one.

Of course everyone knows that everything is NOT always sweetness and light all the time.  And since it’s not, we’re going to have spells of sorrow, sacrifice, pain, maybe even an occasional doubt.  But if I read this passage correctly, we’re supposed to rejoice and pray and give thanks in all things all the time; and I don’t know about you, but I just can’t get that done, in and of myself.  I just can’t be happy all the time, or good all the time, or obedient all the time.

So the only way I can get through to the ‘Festival of Praise’ is if and when I surrender my whole self to God, and let Him take care of me and my problems, so I can focus on the solution of Jesus, the same Jesus who is my Lord and Savior, and who is my Brother; the One who is with me by His Spirit.  That’s what brings me back to God every time, to rejoicing, and praying and giving thanks in all things.