Day 6: Transformed
But we all, with unveiled face, beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, just as by the Spirit of the Lord (2 Corinthians 3:18 – NKJV).
Well may we desire to bear the image of Christ, because it was that which we lost in Eden. We look back to Paradise with many a sigh, but well, I [submit to you], the spiritual mind sighs not for the spice-groves, nor for the verdant walks, nor for the trees luxuriant with fruit.
If Eden had been a Sahara, a howling desert, the truly spiritual mind would long to have it back again for one reason, namely, that there man was in the image of his Maker. “Let us make man in our own image,” said God, “after our own likeness.”
All the losses we sustained by Adam’s ruin were very little, compared with that great loss of the likeness and undying, like the God whose image Adam bore, we might well have endured to have the earth sterile and barren; and all the pains had still retained the image of our God.
Now then, my brethren, it is this which Christ restores to us. He re-makes us, takes away the sinful, rebellious visage, which our father bore when he was expelled from the garden, re-stamps God’s own face on us, and makes us in the image of the Most High again. Oh! If Eden were a sorrowful loss, and if it be desirable to obtain its Paradise again, surely the image of God must be desirable first and foremost of all.
~ Charles H. Spurgeon
Oh! to be like Thee, blessed Redeemer,
This is my constant longing and prayer;
Gladly I’ll forfeit all of earth’s treasures,
Jesus, Thy perfect likeness to wear.
Refrain:
Oh! to be like Thee, oh! to be like Thee,
Blessed Redeemer, pure as Thou art;
Come in Thy sweetness, come in Thy fullness;
Stamp Thine own image deep on my heart.
Oh! to be like Thee, full of compassion,
Loving, forgiving, tender and kind,
Helping the helpless, cheering the fainting,
Seeking the wand’ring sinner to find.
Oh! to be like Thee, lowly in spirit,
Holy and harmless, patient and brave;
Meekly enduring cruel reproaches,
Willing to suffer, others to save.
Oh! to be like Thee, Lord, I am coming,
Now to receive th’ anointing divine;
All that I am and have I am bringing,
Lord, from this moment all shall be Thine.
Oh! to be like Thee, while I am pleading,
Pour out Thy Spirit, fill with Thy love,
Make me a temple meet for Thy dwelling,
Fit me for life and Heaven above.
~Thomas O. Chisholm ~ pub. 1897
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