Over the past decade or so, friends have generously offered us the use of their Lake Michigan cottage. Peggy and I have toured many countries over the years, and I would include this stretch of Great Lakes shoreline among the most beautiful of destinations. White sands, relentless waves—sometimes lapping, sometimes crashing—blue skies and blue waters in relentless rendezvous on the horizon. It never changes, never grows old. Always restful, always rejuvenating. We return there from time to time for respite. In a similar way, this blog space occasionally revisits the wonder of transformation, specifically our ongoing metamorphosis into the likeness of Christ Jesus. This is God’s preordained plan for us and the Spirit’s beautifying work in us. So, let’s return again for respite.
We start here: the Scriptural promise of inner change. Paul writes, “We all . . . are being transformed into [Jesus’] image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”1 How refreshing; such peace. Yet here we pause already to ask this question: If mankind is created in God’s image, as clearly established in Genesis,2 why must we be transformed into His image? On the surface, it seems redundant, and confusing besides. Here is the missing piece that makes our scenario less puzzling: Though we were made in God’s image, we eventually chose unbelief and disobedience, the aftermath of which “cataclysmic” cannot begin to describe. “When Adam sinned, sin entered the world. . . Death spread to everyone, for everyone sinned.”3 And so says Paul, “we have borne the image of the man of dust.”4 This is to say, though we were made in God’s image, all of mankind has yet carried and reflected the sinful likeness—the soiled image—of Adam. It is necessary, therefore, that that we be “conformed to the image of [God’s] Son.”5 Only God can do this, and this God is doing. Praise His name.
Sometimes we seek to justify or minimize our sinful nature in its various forms and desires by claiming to be made in God’s image—and therefore justified in our flaws—or born in sin and therefore without hope or expectation. Neither is ultimately true, for God is “[working] in us what is pleasing to him, through Jesus Christ, to whom be glory for ever and ever.”6 He is at work, transforming us from the dusty image of Adam into the glorious image of Christ.
So think for a moment and throughout the day: In what ways has the indwelling Spirit of God transformed you already? Do you sense Him transforming you even more ways, new ways? He is faithful.
Father, thank you for loving us so much that you steadily transform us, your church, into the image of Christ Jesus, your Son. May your Spirit have your way in us. Great is your faithfulness. In Christ I pray. Amen.
1 2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV
2 See Genesis 1:26-27 ESV
3 Romans 5:12 NLT
4 1 Corinthians 15:49 ESV
5 Romans 8:29 ESV
6 Hebrews 13:21 NIV
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Paul Nordman—Author 