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"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 Corinthians 3:18

Christlikeness. It is the ultimate goal of the Christian life. God ordained His people to be conformed to the image of His Son, Jesus. Our walk with God did not stop when we repented of our sins and put out trust in Christ. That was just the beginning. What comes after is a life-long process of the Holy Spirit working in us to make us more and more like Christ.

Over the next four weeks, God willing, we will be talking about Christlikeness and its part in a believer's life. My mission is to help you see the glory of Christ and how you can yield to His Spirit, allowing Him to transform you into the image of our Lord. But for starters, this doesn't happen overnight. Our spiritual growth is directly influenced by our submission to God, meaning, how we lovingly obey God and being like Christ in the process. The more we allow God to change us, the more we become like Jesus.

To start our study on this topic, let’s look into 2 Corinthians 3:18. This section of Paul's second letter to the Corinthians centers on comparing the glories of the Old and New Covenants. The first covenant refers to Moses's Law and the second covenant refers to the Gospel of Jesus Christ. 

In this passage, Paul refers to Exodus 34, which describes how Moses' face glowed after meeting with God. This powerful reflection of God's glory caused Moses to cover his face with a veil to protect the Israelites from the light, which was unbearable for the Israelites. Metaphorically speaking, it was the hardness of their hearts that kept them from seeing the glory of God. This glory was temporary and later replaced by the New Covenant with everlasting glory.

Allow me to present the differences between the two covenants.

The Gospel of Jesus Christ offers once-and-for-all forgiveness of sins. On the other hand, the Law of Moses only revealed man's sinfulness and never completely wiped away transgressions. The New Covenant is written on believers' hearts by the Holy Spirit (2 Corinthians 3:3), while the Old Covenant was written on stone tablets. More importantly, the New Covenant is spiritual because it is fueled by the Holy Spirit, causing believers to obey God out of love. On the contrary, the Old Covenant was physical as it focused on man's external adherence to the law out of fear.

I can see two reasons why people obey God: one is because of fear, and the other is rooted in love. Jesus demands the second. While it's true that we should honour God with fear and trembling, He wants us to voluntarily obey His Word as a loving response to His grace. Our obedience is made possible by the sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, who uses God's word to show us the truth, believe it, and obey it. As we manifest the fruit of the Holy Spirit (Galatians 5:22-23), we are progressively being transformed into Christlikeness. We don't just conform; we are being transformed.

Pursue the Saviour today!