From... To part 1
There are a couple of verses in the Bible that speak of going FROM something TO something. And generally it's the same thing at the beginning and the end. Which makes sense when you consider the glorious truth that Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega. HE is the beginning and the end. LOVE is the beginning and the end. So I want to start with one of my favorite Bible verses. And, yes, I know that almost every time I quote a memory verse I talk about how it is one of my favorites. But this is one of my very most favorite favorites. 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." There's a lot there, so before we even get into something like Colossians 3:19--knowing the love of Christ that surpasses knowledge--I really want to dig into this idea of being changed INTO glory... FROM glory... TO glory! And as we see in our verse, it comes from looking in the mirror and beholding the glory that is inside us. The glory of God that is inside us. Looking with an open face. Seeing things clearly because the light of the world is shining. Read it in the New Living Translation. "So all of us who have had that veil removed can see and reflect the glory of the Lord. And th Lord--whois the Spirit--makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image." See and reflect. If you see it... you be it. What you see is what you be. That's why it's so important that you look in the right place. That's why it's so important that you look to the Rock from which you were hewn. When He appears (to you, and in you, and through you, and as you) and you see Him as He is... that's when you can be YOU as you are. You can be you as HE is in you. As He is, so are we in this world. So we don't need to "change" in the sense of becoming something we're not. We're being "changed" into glory... from glory... to glory. It's all glory. It's a becoming as we begin to understand what we have always been. Made in the image and likeness of God in the beginning and then conformed into the image of His beloved Son in whom He is well pleased on the cross. Transformed by the renewing of our mind. By receiving and releasing the love of God. By letting Him love us and then loving Him back by loving the people we come into contact with. That's what's glorious--loving people with the love we have been loved with. What else could the glory of God--the God who is love--be? Where us could the Spirit lead us? What else could the heart be concerned with? Keep and guard your heart, for out of it flows the issue (love) of life. When the veil of the law is taken away you can see the grace, and the mercy, and the love, of God. You can experience it by giving it away. You can see HIM as He is and see YOURSELF as He is IN YOU. The glory that is already there can begin to be revealed. It starts with glory. It starts with God. We love because He first loved us. You can't give what you don't have and you can only give what you do have. Receiving and releasing God's love is the key, or the secret, to life. Not trying to be someone you're not, but being who you really are by embracing who you really are. By letting Jesus be who He really is in you, and through you, and as you. Letting the light (the glory) inside shine out. Seeing Jesus and BEING Jesus. See and reflect. Or see and be. Let what's inside come out by knowing and believing it's in there. By SEEING it in there. And by "becoming" what we see (what we've always been) from glory to glory!