Who is that in the Mirror?

Grace for All

Made in His Image

2 Corinthians 3:17-18 (CEB)

The Lord is the Spirit, and where the Lord’s Spirit is, there is freedom. All of us are looking with unveiled faces at the glory of the Lord as if we were looking in a mirror. We are being transformed into that same image from one degree of glory to the next degree of glory. This comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

There is a famous painting by Norman Rockwell called Triple Self-Portrait. It shows the artist with his back turned to the viewer, looking at himself in a large mirror, and painting a shades-of-gray self-portrait. The Rockwell in the mirror wears glasses, but we cannot see his eyes—the lenses are flat white. The Rockwell he is painting wears no glasses, looking straight at the viewer with no obstruction.

Obviously, when Rockwell looked in the mirror, he saw Rockwell. That is, he saw himself. But he transformed what he saw as he painted.

When you or I look in a mirror, we expect to see ourselves. But when we look into the mirror that is “the glory of the Lord” (which seems to be a phrase that means Jesus Christ), we see not ourselves as we are but as we can be.

John Wesley talked about three kinds of grace: prevenient grace that draws us to God; justifying grace by which we are forgiven and made right with God through faith in Jesus Christ; and sanctifying grace, the ongoing work of the Holy Spirit in our lives that transforms us into the likeness of Christ. Paul here tells the Corinthians about that ongoing work of sanctifying grace.

There’s another key idea in this Scripture. Transformation is an ongoing project. The Common English Bible accurately translates the original verb with the phrase, “We are being transformed.” Not “We were transformed” or “we are transformed” or “we will be transformed.” It started in the past, is happening now, and continues on into the future.

Hold up the mirror of Jesus Christ and look into it to see what you are becoming as you follow the Lord’s Spirit, in which there is freedom.

Let’s pray:

Father, a lot of us don’t enjoy looking in the mirror. We don’t like what we see. Thank you for giving us the image into which you are transforming us. Open us to that transformation by your Spirit. Help us lay hold of the freedom you give to us. Amen.

This devotional was written and read by Donn King.

Grace for All is a daily devotional podcast produced by the members of the congregation of First United Methodist Church in Maryville, Tennessee. With these devotionals, we want to remind listeners on a daily basis of the love and grace that God extends to all human beings, no matter their location, status, or condition in life.

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First United Methodist Church is a lively, spirit-filled congregation whose goal is to spread the message of love and grace into our community and throughout the world. We are located on the web at https://1stchurch.org/.