Every day we have opportunity to be grateful for our liberty in the Lord. In that liberty, God is at work fashioning us in and conforming us to His nature by the Holy Spirit.
“Now the Lord is the Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty. 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 Corinthians 3:17-18).
The more we look in the mirror and allow God to reveal blemishes of our carnal nature, the more we can surrender and submit to the Spirit’s correction and strengthening. As a result we are progressively conformed to Christ’s nature and produce fruits of the Spirit. “Since it is through the Spirit that we have Life, let it also be through the Spirit that we order our lives day by day” (Galatians 5:25 JNT).
RELEVANCE
Paul encouraged believers to grow and mature into the fullness of the measure of the stature of Christ’s likeness (Ephesians 4:13). His likeness is His virtue—character and power—that is revealed and manifested in us. It’s what confirms that we are living in the new life in Christ. It’s what demonstrates the qualities of Christ in us that God sees and values. God sees such as eternal values and recognizes them representing “a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory” (2 Corinthians 4:17).
We will always have opportunities to respond to conflict and demonstrate our progressively maturing character—Christ in us. As we submit our humanity to the Cross, the Holy Spirit strengthens us, working to enlighten, empower and further transform us. Real transformation happens in time through God’s process as we yield to the Holy Spirit and grow in the liberty of the Spirit.
REFLECT AND RELATE
How do you recognize the working of the Holy Spirit in your life? How do you qualify the fruit of the Spirit being produced in you?
REFERENCES
John 14-16; 1 Corinthians 2:6-16; 12-14; 2 Corinthians 3:4-18; Galatians 5:1-25; Romans 14:1-23