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Good!

Diane1 knew her young child Ashley2 had a hearing problem. To sudden noises, Ashley often had no jump response—no sudden muscle reflex—and she would act out in exasperation at not understanding or being understood. Strong willed by nature, Ashley was also generally less than cooperative with auditory testing, which added to the overall frustration. When finally an audiologist was able to diagnose Ashley as having moderate to severe hearing loss, Diane, to the doctor’s surprise, rejoiced, “Good! Now I know what we’re dealing with. Now we have something to work with.” What a healthy, positive response!

Our spiritual journey, likewise, has its own frustrations. Paul’s symptoms reflect ours: “I have the desire to do what is good, but I cannot carry it out. For I do not do the good I want to do, but the evil I do not want to do—this I keep on doing.”3 Can you help me, Doc? Is there a diagnosis, so we can have something to work with? Yes, in fact, there is: it is called, “the flesh,” or in this context, our “sin nature.” It is the natural human inclination toward sin. Think of it as the self-willed part of us that wants to live life on our terms and not God’s. And in his letters to the Romans and the Galatians, especially, Paul exposes the flesh for what it is . . . 

“I know that nothing good dwells in me, that is, in my flesh.”4 Good! Now I know what I’m dealing with.

“The mind that is set on the flesh is hostile to God, for it does not submit to God’s law; indeed, it cannot.”5 Good! Now I know the futility of spiritual self-reliance.

“The works of the flesh are evident: sexual immorality, impurity, sensuality, idolatry, sorcery, enmity, strife, jealousy, fits of anger, rivalries, dissensions, divisions, envy, drunkenness, orgies, and things like these.”6 Good! Now I can trace these ominous symptoms to their fleshy root.

“The desires of the flesh are against the Spirit, and the desires of the Spirit are against the flesh, for these are opposed to each other.”7 Good! The choice is clear—my flesh, or God’s Spirit.

It is good to come to the truth of a matter, even if only to understand more clearly our situation. Then where do we go from here? How do we move from futile to fruitful? We’ll discuss this next time. For now, rejoice in the freedom of knowing we cannot live the Christian life by our own wisdom or in our own power. God has a better, freer way forward. See you next week.

Father, thank you for your Word; it is wisdom and power, rest and joy. Send your Spirit to us, your church, and lead us ever in your way and always for your glory. In Christ we pray. Amen.

1, 2 This name is changed for privacy purposes.
3 Romans 7:18-19 ESV
4 Romans 7:18 ESV
5 Romans 8:7 ESV
6 Galatians 5:19-21 ESV
7 Galatians 5:17 ESV

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God’s Timeless Pursuit of Our Transformation

SpaceX, the aerospace pioneer, went public last week, raising tens of billions of dollars through its initial public offering (IPO). Its progenitor, Elon Musk, redefines innovation, having founded Tesla, the electric car company, while, “Oh, by the way,” pioneering reusable rockets in his spare time. He envisions orbiting AI data centers, a city on Mars, and who knows what else this ideator-extraordinaire may have dreamed up while shaving this morning. Yet everything man explores, God has made, for “It is the glory of God to conceal things, but the glory of [man] is to search things out.”1 We dispatch our exploratory rovers to “the red planet”; yet it is “[God] who made the Pleiades and Orion, and turns deep darkness into the morning and darkens the day into night.”2

Then as man looks to the heavens to search out what God has established, God in His heavens pursues His vision for us, His beloved on Earth: to make us ever more like His Son, through whom “all things were made.”3 God’s pursuit of our transformation into Jesus’ image is firmly established from beginning to end. His plan is purposed from the past: “For those whom [God] foreknew he also predestined to be conformed to the image of his Son.”4 He pursues His vision in the present: “We . . . are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.”5 And this He promises for the future: “When [Christ] appears we shall be like him, because we shall see him as he is.”6 God’s vision is clear, His sights are set, and our transformation is certain.

Then what must we do? First, trust and know this: “God . . . works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure.”7 It is a lifelong process. Even if we don’t see transformation right away or at the pace we’d prefer, the fact remains, God is at work in us. Then in the confidence of His faithfulness, we rest and rejoice—rest in the fact that God is doing in us what we cannot do ourselves, and rejoice in our transformation, God’s ongoing expression of love for us. This is His vision; this is our life. So good.

“May God himself, the God of peace, sanctify you through and through. . . The one who calls you is faithful, and he will do it.” — 1 Thessalonians 5:23-24 ESV

Father, thank you for your eternal wisdom and purpose. Thank you for raising us to ever-increasing glory, the image of your Son. Inspire us to trust, rest, rejoice and thrive in such amazing grace. In Christ we pray. Amen.

1 Proverbs 25:2 ESV
2 Amos 5:8 ESV
3 John 1:3 NIV
4 Romans 8:29 ESV
5 2 Corinthians 3:18 NIV
6 1 John 3:2 ESV
7 Philippians 2:13 ESV

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The Missing Piece to Our Image Puzzle

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