2 Corinthians 3:18

Today’s Verse: 2 Corinthians 3:18
From the Message (vs. 16-18) 16-18Whenever, though, they turn to face God as Moses did, God removes the veil and there they are—face-to-face! They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone. And when God is personally present, a living Spirit, that old, constricting legislation is recognized as obsolete. We're free of it! All of us! Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face. And so we are transfigured much like the Messiah, our lives gradually becoming brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.

Places to ponder:
1. They suddenly recognize that God is a living, personal presence, not a piece of chiseled stone.

I remember as a 13 year old, who just moved to a new town and started attending a church with a dynamic youth group, standing in a grassy spot at a church camp where we were having a weekend retreat. I saw something in my peers that was different. There was a joy and energy and I wanted it. They said it was God. I had been in Sunday School as long as I could remember but I didn’t “know” this kind of God. The God I knew was austere and distant, disconnected from me. I had enough of that! I stood there in the grass in the cool of the evening and held up a clump of Queen Anne’s Lace toward the sky and told God: In 30 days I’m going to know you! Thirty days later there was a special service for the youth. We were in the sanctuary of our formal and very United Methodist Church. The leader of the visiting group did something very odd: he gave an altar call. The concept was completely foreign to me, but so was this personal God. That night my head and heart got together with my spirit and I knelt and prayed for God to become personal to me, in me. He did. And He is.

That was a lifetime ago and I truly can’t imagine being any other way. I’ve gotten mad at Him, broken His rules, tried to follow my own plans, but I always come back. It sort of reminds me of the Skinhorse describing what it means to be real to the Velveteen Rabbit: once you’re real you can never go back.

2. Nothing between us and God, our faces shining with the brightness of his face…our lives gradually become brighter and more beautiful as God enters our lives and we become like him.

I used to be part of a denomination that emphasized perfection. They identified themselves as a Holiness Denomination that preached and taught spiritual perfection. Growing up I was taught the importance of being perfect. It had nothing to do with anything spiritual, it was all about doing things right, being right, and being the best. It was a standard I never felt that I measured up to which resulted in much frustration. I naturally gravitated toward a church that preached a familiar message, even becoming a preacher for them and serving in that capacity for over 20 years. I didn’t get much of the joy of becoming more beautiful as God enters our lives.

How do you do with gradually? Based on life-patterns I really struggle with it. I have always wanted to “be there.” I must frustrate God to no end! My life has been characterized by “rush, rush, rush.” It’s like trying to hurry the ripening process. I’ve eaten far too many fruits before their prime. I’ve also ruined countless meals because I didn’t let the water get hot enough or beat the batter long enough.

I remember reading once that God is never in a rush. The only time He is associated with moving quickly is when He is likened to the Father in the story of the Prodigal Son and when he sees his son a long way off he runs out to meet him. I want to be more like Him.