Unveiled Faces
2 Corinthians 3:18 (NASB)
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 from the Lord, the Spirit.
This passage offers us a simple way in which we can run the race towards Jesus. It develops the idea of ‘fixing our eyes on Jesus’ from Hebrews 12 by telling us the benefits of doing so.
In the chapter before, Paul reflects on Moses wearing a veil to cover his glowing face after meeting with God on Mount Sinai. But, in today's verse, Paul reminds us that, by Jesus' death, the veil is torn! This allows us to do three things which encourage us into greater alignment with Jesus.
Firstly, Paul writes that we can ‘behold […] the glory of the Lord’, experiencing him in a concentrated and powerful way. Secondly, Paul uses the image of a mirror to encourage us that, as we behold God, we reflect his glory to the world around us. Finally, he writes that this process of beholding and reflecting ‘transform[s]’ us into the image of God. Our focus on Christ both helps us to be beacons of his hope and to become more and more Christ-like. What a beautiful encouragement to spend time in his presence!
We don’t have to put a veil over our faces when we go about our lives. We don’t have to hide people from the glory of God. We don’t have to dilute our faith or hide our authentic worship; we can be who we are really meant to be, because we are completely freed by the Cross.
I have a challenging question: how many of us have veils over our faces? They might be veils of fear, complacency, lack of spiritual discipline, or desire to fit in with our non-Christian friends. I know I’m guilty of all the above! But let’s pray that God would give us the boldness to allow him to remove our veils and be mirrors for his glory.
Prayer – Lord, would you give us the boldness to remove our veils (be they pride, embarrassment, fear, expectation) and allow you to shape us and shine through us as we go through our day. We fix our eyes on you so that we can reflect your glory like a mirror in everything we do today.