“But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord” (2 Cor. 3:18).
Paul includes himself in the metamorphosis or change from one state of spirituality into the greater. Truly, a converted life is a thing of beauty and should be appreciated by all. Consider three things that the Bible addresses of the beauty of a transformed life.
- From Sensual to Spiritual. One of the greatest battles within each individual is between the desires of the flesh and the intent of the spirit of man to want to do right. Paul wrote, “This I say then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the lust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would” (Gal. 5:16-17). If man did not have divine revelation in the inspired word of God, he would be left to his own thinking and fleshly inclinations to live his life. However, such only leads to what Paul would later identify as the “works of the flesh” (Gal. 5:19). Such a sensual life is not becoming of the beauty to be found by following the Spirit’s word to produce the “fruit of the Spirit” (Gal. 5:22). True beauty is seen through the influence of the Spirit’s revelation in the life in contrast to the ugliness of man following his own wisdom. James gave a similar set of contrasts in James 3:15-18. A life lived to the flesh void of spirituality is ugly and destructive. A life lived to the revelation of the Spirit (i.e. the Bible) is wholesome and greatly admired.
- From Selfish to Serving. Isaiah wrote of the self-centeredness of man, “All we like sheep have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all” (Isa. 53:6). Man constantly has to battle the temptation to satisfy self over satisfying God and serving others. It is easy to become self-absorbed with one’s own personal living. There is even a tool invented not too long ago and very popular with people called a “selfie stick” for taking pictures with self in it. How much more beautiful is the life of Christ where it is said of him, “For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me” (Rom. 15:3). The people who belong to Christ should project such an image. Paul wrote to Titus, “Who gave himself for us, that he might redeem us from all iniquity, and purify unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good works” (Titus 2:14).
- From Sinful to Submissive. Paul wrote to the Roman brethren, “Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof. Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God” (Rom. 6:12-13). He wrote further, “Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?” (Rom. 6:16). A life unto sin leads only to death (cf. Rom. 6:23) while a life unto God is unto eternal life (cf. Rom. 6:22). Eternal glory is far more beautiful now as well as in heaven.
Jimmy Clark