REDEEMED LOOK

“And all of us, as we with unveiled face [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His very image in ever increasing splendor and from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit” 2Crinthians 3:18. 

Greetings to you in the precious Name of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ. May the good LORD be with you and your family throughout this month and bless each and every one of you and I bring greetings from Shalom Family Enrichment Mission.  We all know that our Savior Jesus Christ is going to come soon to take us all into the everlasting presence our Mighty Father. Most of us seek the signs. But I just want to share some thoughts which would prepare us to meet Him.

The above verse tells us that we should always be ‘spiritually fresh’. How can I be spiritually fresh? Paul here teaches us that we must keep our eyes fully focused on Jesus Christ. Our Lord was more alert and live person, the world has ever seen. Never once do we read that He experienced spiritual staleness or had to confess to being out of touch with heaven and this is what we are meditating during this time of lent. His spiritual stability was demonstrated by Him at Gethsemane, when He was in agony. He prayed more earnestly and intently, His sweat became like great clots of blood dropping down upon the ground (Lk.22:44), but the disciples were sleeping from grief! (Vs.45). He was always confident, always assured, always in the right place, doing right thing at the right time. Even after the prolonged fasting in the wilderness, before entering to ministry, when He faced the fiercest of temptations, He returned, not exhausted and limp as a wet rag, but “in the power of the Spirit”. He demonstrated His spiritual freshness to the highest degree!

Our text this month tells us that one of the ways by which we can become more and more like Christ is to stand with unveiled faces and continuously gaze upon Him. This is a breath taking concept, so simple yet how profound, to look beyond yourself to Another and thus free yourself from self-preoccupation. Sometimes we miss the mark when we finish up preoccupied with our own states of mind and emotion. Someone put it this way – “If I worship the divinity within me, I probably end up worshipping myself” How true it is!

This verse gets our gaze in the right place – on the face of Christ. This attention we give to this is important, for whatever gets our attention gets us. If the inner agenda in us gets our attention, then it gets us and if Christ gets our attention, He gets us. Our gaze must be person-centered and not problem-centered. And the Person must be Christ.

Someone said, “If you look long at yourself, you will become discouraged. (How true this is at the adolescent stage!). If you look long at others, you will be distracted. (Looking at some ladies in the magazines like Chennai Times, and then referring to their website, and then land up in Pornography! How true it is in different areas! Beware!) But if you look long at Christ, you will take on His likeness!”

This is the redeemed look. I counsel lot of people and their face look like what they are looking at – nothing – just a blur – sometimes confused. Well, a customer walked into a shop and enquired, “Do you keep stationery here?” “No”, replied the assistant, “We keep moving.” Many in the modern age keep moving not only their body but their focus of attention, and the result is a blurred face.

But the Bible says, “Those who look to Him are radiant” (Psalm 34:5). We read about Moses when He met the LORD at Mount Sinai. In Exodus 34, verses 33 to 35 read like this, “When Moses had finished speaking with them, he put a veil on his face. But when Moses went in before the LORD to speak with Him, “he took the veil off until he came out”. And he came out and told the Israelites what he was commanded. The Israelites saw the face of Moses, how the skin of it shone; and Moses put the veil on His face again until he went in to speak with God”

His face was not blurred but a blessing! Recently I had encountered such an incident in my life. For more than 40 years a man affected by leprosy is coming to our house every month to get some help from me. Now he has become very old, has lost all his fingers, sight and face is completely deformed. When he came in January, I gave him some dresses. Receiving those materials, with tears, he started blessing me and my family. His face shone like that of an angel! Have you experienced in your life? Now we should have such a radiant face, and that is what the Psalmist says, “They looked to Him and were radiant; their faces shall never blush for shame or be confused” (34:5). If we want people to believe us and accept Jesus, our face must have the look of redeemed happiness, heaven in our face, radiance of the love of Jesus.

To enter into such an experience, we must personally have the truth in us – “It is no more I but Christ Who lives in me”. If Christ lives in us, then we cannot and should not have any “hidden agenda”. In Romans 8:14, we read, “Because those who are led by the Spirit of God are sons of God.” This verse teaches us that the true sons and daughters of God are led and controlled by the Holy Spirit. Does the Holy Spirit lead you? Who is leading you? – Your Pastor? Or an Evangelist? People want to impart their “inner agenda”, their “childhood motto”. But are you gazing at Jesus and coming closer and closer to Jesus? Do you confess Christ, but are really ruled by fear, a negative experience, a hurt, or a wrong assumption from the past? Gazing at Jesus gives us a redeemed look which ultimately leads us to a closer walk with Jesus. So may the LORD give us the ability to gaze on the face of Jesus. God bless you.

Prayer: Lord when I look at myself I feel unworthy and inadequate. But when I look at You, I feel anything is possible. Help me not just to glance at You, but to gaze at You. You have my heart – have my face too. Let it look as though it belongs to You. Let the light of Your countenance lighten my countenance. In Jesus Name I pray. Amen.