“Unveiled & Reflecting”

2Cor 1-4 — In Chapter 1, we learned to be steadfastly confident in God’s comfort. In Chapter 2, we learned that we have the power to forgive unconditionally. In chapter 3, we see that only through the indwelling Holy Spirit can we comfort others and forgive unconditionally. It is only through His power that these can be accomplished. Paul uses two analogies to help us understand who we are and what we are to reflect.

Overcome with emotion, Paul writes in 2 Cor. 3:3, “you are a letter of Christ, delivered by us, written not with ink but by the Spirit of the living God, not on stone tablets but on tablets of human hearts.” The Psalmist adds another dimension to this picture: “My tongue is the pen of a ready writer.” Paul says we are not only that, but we are an open letter that is being read by all Christians and non-Christians alike. More often than we realize, we are the Bible that is read and known by men. What do men read when they hear our words and read our countenance?

As believers in Christ, we are no longer like Moses, veiled that God’s glory cannot be seen, but we are unveiled to reflect His glory to the world. “And we all, with unveiled faces reflecting the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another, which is from the Lord, who is the Spirit.” [2 Cor 3:18] Moses’ glory faded, but our glory should continue to grow and mirror Christ. Just as Jesus was transfigured, reflecting God’s glory, we are being transfigured/transformed moment by moment that we may reflect His image as we learned 1Co 15:49 And just as we have borne the image of the man of dust, let us also bear the image of the man of heaven.

Today, as you ponder this chapter, may our prayer be that we reflect the image of Christ to all.