Do you reflect the glory of the Lord?
I took over a hundred pictures today trying to capture the perfect image of my granddaughters’ joy while riding a horse. Each time I snapped a photo, I could only hope. When I returned home and uploaded them to my computer, I discovered a lot of adorable pictures with somewhat happy expressions. However, not one image captured the joy I saw each time I snapped the photo. The nine-second delay between pushing the button and the actual image being taken was just enough to lose the essence of her heart and mind. It was just enough time for the horse to move, to alter a position, to blur the focus. Their jubilant spirit was a veiled memory, a bare glimpse of reality.
“We all, with unveiled faces, are reflecting the glory of the Lord and are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory; this is from the Lord who is the Spirit.” 2 Corinthians 3:18
Paul says we are all “reflecting the glory of the Lord”. Each of us who have Christ, have a powerful light within us that shows the world we have been with Him, and He with us. His life is magnified in us.
I wonder how often the world sees a reflection like the photos I took–those that rarely capture the total joy and love for Christ within us. Instead they see the blur of irritation, annoyance–our weaker moments. How often do we find ourselves looking at other Christians and, rather than looking for that perfect shot – the one that captures the Spirit of Christ, we seek the baser quality? And when we’ve seen the baser quality, we jump at the chance to point out that flaw to others, taking pleasure in pointing out what we perceive to be a flawed image? I wonder how many times we prefer the flaws to prove a point, making ourselves feel better in light of our own imperfections. How much glory is there in that? Oh, that we would continually be showing glory unto glory — the pure essence, humility, and benevolence of our Savior.
PRAYER: Lord, let us strive to not only show Your glory within us, let us be diligent to point out the best in others. Let us give attention to showing the world Your grace, Your mercy, Your love.
© Hariette Petersen, SelahV Today, 2010
We are all reflections of God, and knowing that is a beautiful thing! Blessings to you!
Yes, we should never point out peoples flaws because we all have flaws. We are to encourage and uplift one another as well as love one another as Christ loves us. His mercies are new every morning and when I open my eyes in the morning I thank the Lord for loving me and for allowing me to live one more day to recoeve His many many blessings. God bless all my brothers and sisters who are on this iPhone application. God bless