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And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed [metamorphosized] into the same image from one degree of glory to another ~ 2 Corinthians 3:18
Why were you born into this world, anyway?
Those apart from God don’t know why they’re here. Sadly, they’re left to guess. Many believe there is no ultimate purpose. Others might say their purpose is to be a good person, to have as many unforgettable experiences as possible before death brings the curtain down on their brief existence, to seek pleasure, to be comfortable, to have family and friends who they love, to leave the world a better place than when they came.
As Christians, we don’t have to guess why we’re here. Thank God for His great mercy. We are here, first, to bow our rebellious hearts before Jesus, our Creator and the lover of our souls. Then begins the journey of trustingly gazing into the glory of His face (character, personhood). As we practice His Presence by fixing our eyes on Him, we will be metamorphosized into His likeness . . . degree by degree, day by day.
Does that sound boring? To every believer who keeps God and other humans at arm’s length–yes.
Does that mean you can’t enjoy this world? As long as we seek Him first, He has given us everything good to enjoy while we are here on earth.
Does God want you to increasingly become a good person who spends her whole life trying not to do something wrong?
Not at all. You will notice that the verse above is not negatively telling you what not to do, but positively encouraging you what to do. Jesus doesn’t want you to try to be good (religious), thinking that then you will earn His love. Instead, He desires you to look at Him first before you try to do anything in your own strength. He will then transform you into being like Him—good, obedient, loving, holy, faithful, forgiving.
Yes, believers in Jesus know why they’re here in this space-time continuum. They are on this planet to experience metamorphosis. Metamorphosis? Yes, that’s the Greek word Paul uses in 2 Corinthians.
It reminds me of the amazing transformation that occurs when a caterpillar becomes a butterfly. Jesus doesn’t want us to remain a sluggish worm that spends its entire existence eating and hiding under leaves and getting crushed beneath the cruel wheel of life—and death.
He wants us to fly. He wants us to be on a journey of becoming. He wants us to be like the most amazing person in the universe—Himself.
Would you rather be a caterpillar or a butterfly?
Jesus doesn’t want us to be earthbound, always looking down at the things of this world as if they were most important or to be pursued as an end in themselves until He returns. He wants us to look up and see well beyond the limitations of physical pleasure and fleeting happiness. He made us for more and so He wants us to be more and have more. Beginning, of course, with Himself.
Here, then, is one of the amazing benefits of trusting Jesus. Everyone who receives Him as their savior and friend will be changed into the butterfly while those who reject Him will forever remain a caterpillar—far less than what they were designed to be. Belief in the God of the universe, then, is not a mundane event accompanied by a few perks.
Jesus is the One who is knocking on the door of your heart. If you invite Him in, He changes everything for you. Everything.
The new birth is far better than receiving physical eyesight after being born blind. You will see everything with new eyes not just for this lifetime but forever and ever.
As we behold Jesus, fleeting happiness becomes eternal joy; being nice is transformed into His sacrificial love flowing out of our hearts; sin is seen as a deadly barrier to life while obedience becomes precious to us; other humans are not considered a means to satisfy our ends but creatures walking around with God’s image imprinted on them.
So why are we here? God made us for the spiritual realm. He made us to have spiritual eyes to see Him. He created us for eternity so that we will long for heaven instead of settling for this world. Do vacations to exotic places and savory foods and sparkling drinks and sex and enjoyable vocations and hobbies and watching other people live their lives on YouTube and TV give us happiness? Arguably, yes. Just not ultimate happiness. Not imperturbable joy.
You were made for more. That’s the point and never forget it.
But I don’t see Jesus, someone might say. I don’t hear His voice telling me that He loves me and that He is in my suffering working it for my eternal good. I don’t taste spiritual pleasure nearly as acutely as I do the tasty morsels of this material world. I don’t feel His hand on my shoulder, guiding me and reassuring me that I am His friend. I don’t smell the fragrance of heaven—at least not often.
This material world is so compelling, so in my face.
Behold my face and be metamorphosized.
“I struggle to see you, Jesus, in this world that is so captivating.”
When we believe in Jesus and practice looking at Him, He grows within us a whole set of new senses.
So, we are always of good courage. We know that while we are at home in the body (still in the cocoon) we are away from the Lord. For we walk by faith, not by sight.
We certainly don’t have 20:20 spiritual eyesight yet, but our heavenly eyes have been opened to see things beyond our physical vision.
When we believe in Jesus, we immediately become butterflies in status: Therefore, if anyone is in Christ, he is a new creation. The old has passed away; behold, the new has come. Our names are written in the book of life and we are seated in the heavenly places. We are perfect in God’s eyes.
If I’m already a butterfly, why do I sometimes feel like the ugly caterpillar and why does God seem a million miles away?
At the moment you believe, you receive all the promises given to those who trust in Him. But you still face a journey of growth during which you are metamorphosized into His likeness from day to day and year to year. In status–in God’s eyes–you are the butterfly, but you still must go through the dark days of the cocoon until you emerge as the perfect one who is like Him.
Now but not yet.
Yes, once again, it’s all about being changed into the image of Christ as we behold Him over time. We are already a new creation and yet we’re becoming a new creation. We are justified at one point in time, but we are currently experiencing the ongoing journey of sanctification. One day our status will be realized in experience. The two will become one and we will be like Him, fully experiencing the identities He created for us.
How does beholding Jesus’ face help us in this world as we journey through the psycho-spiritual-relational realm?
The main point of this blog post is to remind you that your life has a purpose. You have become a new creation and you now know for a fact that you will be exploding out of the cocoon at death (or at the second coming) and going home. In the meantime, your primary purpose here on earth is to become increasingly like the only perfect Being in the universe.
Sometimes this transformation comes through the daily monotony of living in the trenches of life. Sometimes it comes when you victoriously take the hill. Often it comes through suffering that we do not understand.
God is working all of it together to make you into the most amazing version of you—the one who was created in Jesus’ image. He won’t waste one tear or one drop of blood or one moment of depression—they will all be woven into the tapestry of your glorified life.
Did you ever wonder why being a caterpillar is not ultimately fulfilling? Do you feel discouraged and alone in this world, like you are living in darkness, like God has forgotten you?
Fear not. You are being transformed like an athlete for the Universal Olympics. Preparing for heaven can be difficult. But know that He has gone before you.
One day you will be raised from the cocoon. And oh, what an amazing day that will be when you fly home to live with your savior and your best friend forever. In the meantime, know that you already are perfect and loved in God’s eyes.
Now but not yet.
The now is a reality and the not yet is a promise of things to come. Yes, a promise made by God to you by name.
So we do not lose heart. Though our outer self [the caterpillar] is wasting away, our inner self [the butterfly] is being renewed day by day. For this light momentary affliction is preparing for us an eternal weight of glory beyond all comparison, as we look not to the things that are seen but to the things that are unseen. For the things that are seen are transient, but the things that are unseen are eternal ~ 2 Corinthians 4:16-18