This past Sunday we looked at 2 Corinthians 3:18 which tells us that God changes us from one degree of glory to another. But here’s a question…
Doesn’t God, through the Holy Spirit, have the power to transform us 20, 40, 90 degrees at a time? And if so, why doesn’t he do that? Wouldn’t that bring him more glory? Wouldn’t that bring us more joy?
Let me answer first by saying that sometimes God does radically change us many degrees at a time. This certainly happens when we come to faith in Christ. We are changed from death to life. And this also happens in the lives of believers; sometimes they are radically changed through answered prayer or through a specific circumstance or by a certain passage of Scripture that grips their hearts. It can and does happen; we should pray for that to happen (Eph. 3:20-21)
But I don’t think this is the normal way God changes us. I think he normally changes us just as Paul says, degree by degree. So why does he do it that way?
Here’s my attempt to answer this question: God doesn’t change us 20, 40, 90 degrees at a time because he’s gracious.
He knows our hearts are fickle and prone to wander. And I think if we could do “X, Y, and Z” and be radically changed then we would stop trusting in Christ and start trusting in ourselves. We would think that we are stronger than we actually are; we would think that we could control more than we actually can; we would think that we obey more than we actually do. Our focus would be on ourselves and not on Christ.
Yes, God could have saved us and made us instantly perfect. But he didn’t. Instead he uses our beholding to transform us not instantly but degree by degree. I think he does this so that we won’t be tempted to trust in ourselves, so we won’t trust in ability to change, but we would always be growing in humility and dependence and gratitude for the One who changes us. So God is gracious and changes us slowly so that our gaze will always be upon Christ. And as we behold Jesus we’ll increasingly become like Jesus, degree by degree.
Let me be clear: This is not an excuse to sin, saying “Well I’m only moving in degrees and I’m not that far along yet so this sin is okay.” No. That’s not what happens when you truly behold the glory of the Lord.
When you behold the Lamb who has been slain in the gospel you realize that you’re not just saved of your sins but you’re saved from your sins; this propels you toward holiness. True beholding never leads to excusing sin; it leads to embracing the Savior.
And as we change degree by degree here on earth, we look forward to heaven. We look forward to the day when we’ll see Jesus as he is and this will change us be fully and completely. To use the words in 1st John 3: “Beloved, we are God’s children now, and what we will be has not yet appeared; but we know that when he appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”
Restoration Church, in 2015 lets resolve to be a church that heralds this gospel message.
- Lets resolve to be patient in walking alongside our brothers and sisters as they move from one degree of glory to another.
- Lets resolve to help each other focus not just on behaving differently, but encourage each other behold Glory.
- Lets resolve to not excuse each other’s sin, but to humbly point each other toward the Savior.
- Lets resolve to behold and then boast that others in our community might behold the glory of God in the face of Christ and join us in our delight.