"Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into His likeness with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit” - 2 Corinthians 3:17-18
There is a wonderful promise in verse 18. God says that He is changing us to become more like Him. Sometimes these changes happen quickly, and sometimes they are very slow. The day I surrendered my life to Christ to be my Lord and Savior, I surprisingly felt different. I was going through the normal teenage struggle of wanting to be more independent and thus I was at times argumentative and unpleasant to my mother. But from my first day as a new believer, this tension left me. I felt a supernatural peace and patience with my family. Thus, the words and attitudes in my heart were much more submissive and respectful.
Other behaviors took much more time to “root out.” The Lord had to allow me to go through some pretty difficult times until I relinquished my un-Christ-like attitudes and behaviors. But let us not miss an important piece regarding our transformation. In the above passage, it says that “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom.” In other words, it is essential that after the Lord reveals something not right in our heart that we repent and ask the Holy Spirit to fill us and enable us to be transformed. In our own strength we can see temporary or minimal change. But in the power of the Spirit, we can be radically transformed more into His likeness....
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