2Cor 3: 18 But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit. Rom 8:28 And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are called according to His purpose.
Transformation involves the Spirit's working both inwardly and outwardly. The Spirit works outwardly in our circumstances for the sake of His inward working. For example, the Spirit may use our children to help transform us. We may expect that our children will be submissive and obedient. But a certain child may be stubborn or even rebellious. Such a child can cause us to be pressed for the sake of our transformation. As an elderly person with many children and grandchildren, I can testify that the Spirit often uses our children to press us and "burn us" as part of His work of transformation. I also came to see that I need other pressures as well. It takes a great deal of intensified heat and pressure for clay to become precious stones. According to Romans 8:28, God causes all things to work together for good on our behalf. We need all things to work for us. Therefore, we should not be surprised when even our children are used to press us and burn us so that we may become precious stones. Many Christians are under the influence of the teaching that if we believe in the Lord Jesus and behave ourselves properly for the glory of God, we shall be blessed and prospered in every way. According to this teaching, we shall be successful and prosperous. Furthermore, supposedly our children will become successful in their chosen professions. If this teaching is accurate, then Paul must be the most pitiful believer who ever lived. Listen to what he says in 4:11-13: "Until the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and are naked and beaten and wander without a home; and we labor, working with our own hands; being reviled we bless, being persecuted we bear it, being defamed we appeal; we have become as the offscouring of the world, as the scum of all things until now." Is this the description of one who is successful and prosperous? Paul's situation was very different from that promised by the teaching that those who believe in the Lord and live properly will be blessed materially. However, Paul was in fact the most blessed of Christians, for he was truly constituted of the Triune God. We praise the Lord that we are receiving the Lord's nourishment and are also undergoing the process of transformation. We are also thankful for the heat and pressure which are transforming us from clay into precious stones. (c) Living Stream Ministry.
Bible verses are taken from the Recovery Version of the Bible and Words of Ministry from Witness Lee, Life-study of 1 Corinthians, pp. 281-282. Both are published by Living Stream Ministry, Anaheim, CA. Please visit us at www.emanna.com. Send comments to: [email protected].
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