Transformation

Today I revisited a book that changed my life a dozen years ago, The Assurance of Our Salvation, by Martin Lloyd-Jones. Flipping through, I landed on this, all underlined and asterisked:
“We are all too interested in our own moods and states and conditions; we are all too psychological and introspective, and too concerned, therefore, about the benefits that the Christian gospel and salvation have to give to us. And the result of this is that we we miss something of these great glories of the gospel as it is unfolded in the New Testament. This comes out very clearly if we listen to one another; have you not noticed how there is a tendency to be talking about ourselves? We are always telling people what has happened to us. 'Testimony' today generally means what we have experienced, or what has happened to us. How rarely do we speak about him!
"...If you read the lives of the saints who have gone before us in this world, you will find that they spent most of their time in talking together about Jesus Christ. Their testimony was a testimony to him, and to his praise. Their emphasis was upon him. They spoke about this wonderful Christ and the glory of his person, whereas we always tend to talk about ourselves... 
"...there is no real hope for revival and true awakening until we come back to this. And the way to do that is to study the Scriptures, to spend our time in reading and mediating upon them and then in humbling ourselves in worship and in adoration before such a marvelous truth....I advocate this because, apart from anything else, the real cure for most of our subjective ills is ultimately to be so enraptured by the beauty and the glory of Christ that we will forget ourselves and will not have time to think about ourselves at all."

Which last bit brings this to mind:
"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit." 2 Cor. 3.17,18
Transformation comes as we behold him. And until the day we see him with our eyes, we behold him through his word handed down to us through his apostles, safeguarded by those who love him for two millennia, translated by dedicated Christians into the language we speak today, in words simple enough for the simplest of us to understand.


 

Comments

Unknown said…
I am so grateful for you! Thank you for staying close to the Lord and sharing what He puts on your heart. This came at a perfect time. You are a true blessing in my life. :)
Tina said…
I am so grateful for you! Thank you for staying close to the Lord and sharing what He puts on your heart. This came at a perfect time. You are a true blessing in my life. :)

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