St.
Paul has been speaking of his ancestors and how they lived by the letter of the
law under Moses. And even then as Paul was proclaiming Christ Jesus they were
living under the letter and not of the Spirit which gives new life. He likens
their condition to having a veil over them, which prevents the vision of God's
glory.
God sent Christ Jesus to remove the veil so that we
can see Him face to face and become more like Him by one degree of glory at a
time. As we look into the mirror each day we should be able to see ourselves
changing and looking more like Christ.
If we are seeking Him in our lives and studying His
Word, we will see ourselves changing bit by bit. We will go through a
transfiguration, if you will, that will make us more Christ-like until the day
comes when we will be with the Father forever.
I worked for many years to remove my veil. The
trouble was that I was not even living under the letter of the law. I would get
glimpses of Christ Jesus, but my old ways kept me from seeing myself
transforming when I looked into the mirror.
Our Christian history is full of people like you
and me that had to have the world fall in around them in order for their attention
to be turned to God. However, what a blessing in the middle of the rubble to reach
down and pickup the broken mirror and look into it and see the face of Jesus.
As St. Paul says, "Now the Lord is the Spirit,
and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom." The letter of the
law seems to confine and entrap us. It is through the freedom given by the
Spirit that we can come closer to knowing God.
Paul reminds us that, "Such is the confidence
that we have through Christ toward God. Not that we are competent of ourselves
to claim anything as coming from us; our competence is from God, who has made
us competent to be ministers of a new covenant, not of letter but of spirit;
for the letter kills, but the Spirit gives life."
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