Beholding is Becoming

Beholding is Becoming

“We all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being changed into his likeness from one degree of glory to another.” 2 Corinthians 3:18 

Every person worships. God has designed the human being so that we take on the characteristics of what or who we worship. God did so, because God’s vision is that humanity for all eternity will become more and more like Jesus Christ, as we worship the triune God alone. Piper explains, “We tend to become like what we admire and enjoy. And the stronger our admiration, the greater the influence. Beholding is a way of becoming.”

 This dynamic is inescapable, and so, it applies to every human. For example, when one worships money, she becomes defined by greed. When one worships pornography, he becomes a one-dimensional, angry, depressed, shell of a man. When one worships alcohol or drugs, their personality, even their appearance, takes on the characteristic of the substance being abused. Look at teenagers when they worship some star, they take on the characteristics, and often even the appearance, of the star worshipped. (I tried very hard to look like Mick Jagger and Steven Tyler in high school!)

 On the good side, the more we worship the triune God, in the fullness of God’s majesty, glory, beauty, and holiness, the more we take on God’s characteristics! Worship fosters transformation! Now there is even a danger here if our image of God is inaccurate. If we worship a graceless God, we become legalistic. If we worship a harsh God, we become judgmental. Thus, it is mandatory that we live saturated in the Word of God, so that our image of God is true and ever-expanding.

 You are right now becoming more and more like who and what commands your worship, your imagination, your passions. God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Spirit are alone the most glorious, the most perfect, alone unmatchable and inexhaustible in beauty, truth, and goodness. Thus, to place your deepest affections and passionate worship upon them is to place yourself on a path of becoming the best possible version of you that could ever be. Scougal explains, “The worth and excellency of a soul is to be measured by the object of its love.” We become glorious as we glory in God alone!

 Dr. Christopher English

October 2020

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