God’s Reflection
I was thinking the other day about a friend of mine. He has changed quite a bit over recent years. I miss the “old him.” Also, around this time of year I always find myself thinking about the accident that radically altered my husband’s and my life. We’re coming up on the four year anniversary this year. In the first two years post- accident, I found myself praying almost constantly that God would restore him to his “old self,” that he would be “back” to “normal,” and that he would be “the old Jason that I remembered.” I don’t know how God could stand those prayers…. Well recently as I was thinking of my friend who had changed, God starkly and vividly brought to my memory a verse that I have heard 1000 times if I’ve heard it once, “If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature, the old things have passed away, behold all things have become new.” (2 Corinthians 5:17)
It was like God had climbed into the vehicle with me and His great booming voice was turned up loud inside my SUV. God then repeated Himself (in case I had gone deaf, I guess), “He is a NEW CREATURE!”
Then the light bulb finally went on…missing the “old friend” I was missing, or praying for the “old Jason” or even talking about the “old Angie” was a waste of air…if all of these people are in Christ (which they are) then the old is dead…everything has become new. Paul says in 2 Corinthians 3:18 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. (KJV) Read that sentence again. If you’re anything like me you might need to read it ten more times before it starts to sink in…. Go look in a mirror and realize that the image looking back at you (if you know Jesus as your personal friend and Savior) is changing into the same image that God sees when He looks into a mirror! Does that blow your mind? It does mine! Everything about me is changing into a new creature, into a new form of glory, into a clearer reflection of God.
I feel a pressing need to pause here and agree with Paul once again and stress as he did in Philippians 3:12-13 - I don't mean to say that I have already achieved these things or that I have already reached perfection! But I keep working toward that day when I will finally be all that Christ Jesus saved me for and wants me to be. 13 No, dear brothers and sisters, I am still not all I should be, but I am focusing all my energies on this one thing: Forgetting the past and looking forward to what lies ahead. (NLT) Forgetting in that verse doesn’t mean forgetting in the traditional sense of forget as we might define the term. It comes from two Greek words epi and lanthan meaning “to lie hid.” KJV translates it “be hid, be ignorant of, unawares.” Put together these two words make epilanthanoma which means “to lose out of mind” or “to neglect.” In other words, this “forgetting” that we have to do is an action. We have to neglect it, stop thinking about it, and move on. Pastor Randy preached a sermon years ago about stopping those old tapes that play in your head and throwing them out. Sadly, too many of us (me included) taped over those old tapes with more junk and just hit replay instead of throwing them out for good.
Anyone who has known me for even a moment can say a rousing, “Amen!” in agreement with that above verse about not being perfect, but all of us has something that we’re working on; something in our life that we’re struggling or wrestling with. I’ve been doing a lot of struggling lately. I feel like a giant failure most of the time. The Word of God says that we are all changing from glory to glory, though. I might feel like a failure, and I might even fail most of the time, but I am still changing from one measure of glory to the next. God is still doing a work in me (GLORY!) even if I am not aware of it.
How about you? Are you spending most of your time these days with your face in the ground in failure? (Around here, we call that sucking carpet). Be encouraged! God is for you, not against you. There is a whole cheerleader section of heaven rooting us on to victory! (Hebrews 12:1) Remember, to look at your reflection in a mirror and remind yourself that the reflection looking back is looking more and more like God everyday! He is at work in you. Let’s both remember that this month. God bless you.
Submitted by Angie Kovarovic