Honey From The Rock

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Honey From The Rock
Psalm 81:16

"Sweet Stuff From God's Word"

A daily Bible study with Victor Knowles
Copyright 2007

THE EYE OF THE BEHOLDER

This entry was posted on 07-14-2009 and is filed under SPIRITUAL FORMATION.

Spiritual formation is what Christ does to us as we behold Him. I cannot be spiritual formed, or transformed, when my eyes are on myself or something other than Christ. He is the key to spiritual formation. There is no spiritual formation without Christ being at the center of it all.

"But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord" (2 Cor. 3:18 NKJV). The transformation comes when we behold Christ properly. A low view of Christ will never result in transformation. An occasional view of Christ will not get the job done. Paul has been talking about those who have a veil over their face when they read Scripture (the unbelieving Jews). J. B. Phillips translates this verse as follows: "But all of us who are Christians have no veils on our faces, but reflect like mirrors the glory of the Lord. We are transfigured in every-increasing splendor into his own image, and the transformation comes from the Lord who is the Spirit" (The N.T. in Modern English).

As we behold (look) at Christ in Scripture - in prophecy, in the gospels, in the epistles, in Revelation - we slowly but surely become changed. For as we behold Christ, we take hold of Christ. We are drawn to Him. We want to be like Him. We want to live as He lived. Christ is the theme of Scripture and Christ ought to be the theme of all our preaching and praise in the church. There can be no true spiritual formation (or transformation) where Christ is not the object of our view and the subject of our vision. The Russian novelist Count Leo Tolstoy once described Abraham Lincoln as "a Christ in miniature." That is what we should be.

Prayer/Hymn: "Finish then Thy new creation, Pure and spotless let us be; Let us see Thy great salvation perfectly restored in Thee; Changed from glory into glory, Till in heav'n we take our place, Till we cast our crowns before Thee, Lost in wonder, love and praise!" (Charles Wesley)