2 Corinthians 3:18 (Amplified Bible) – “And all of us, as with unveiled face, [because we] continued to behold [in the Word of God] as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are constantly being transfigured into His {very own} image in ever increasing splendor {and} from one degree of glory to another; [for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.”
Remember back in the day when we used the self-timer feature on our camera to take a self-portrait? Don’t need to anymore. With mobile phones and digital cameras, “selfies” are the new and easy way to go. You can hold your camera at arm’s length or point it at a mirror and voila! Although the word “selfie” has been around since 2005, in November 2013, it was announced as being the “word of the year” by the Oxford English Dictionary. It’s been reported that approximately 30% of the photos taken are “selfies”! What?!
A couple of weeks ago, I taught a course called Spirit, Soul and Body at the Faith International Training School (FITS) in Sayreville, NJ. I shared from 2 Corinthians 3:18, that the word of God is a mirror. As we know, a mirror reflects an image of your physical person. Nobody has actually ever seen their face, we’ve only seen a reflection. That’s what the word of God does, it’s a reflection of who we really are in Christ, of what our spirit looks like, and what belongs to us in our covenant.
John 6:63 says, “My words are spirit and they are life”. God’s words are “spirit”, they reflect the real, true you. When we gaze into the word and renew our minds with what it says about us, it produces an image on the inside of us. When you look into the word, you see yourself with a perfect spirit, filled and flooded with God Himself (Eph. 1:23).
After one of my classes, the translator came out of the back room smiling and stretched out her Bible in front of her and said, “I’m taking a Bible-selfie”. We all laughed, but she certainly brought this truth to life.
Paul said in 2 Corinthians 3:18 that we go from one degree of glory to another. Renewing your mind to the word of God is a process. It doesn’t happen overnight and it never ends. The best part of this verse is at the end, “[for this comes] from the Lord [Who is] the Spirit.” You don’t have to make it happen. In His grace, and by His Spirit, we are changed and transformed from the inside out. It’s the Spirit, not “self-improvement” or a crash course on 25 steps to a better life that brings long lasting change. It’s simply taking a “Bible-selfie”, looking into the mirror at the real you. Eventually it filters into your soul (mind, will and emotions) and your physical life. I recommend that you take as many “Bible-selfies” as you possibly can, take them all day long, and for the rest of your life! Have fun!