2 Corinthians 3:18 English Standard Version (ESV) And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.

Building off what was said yesterday let it be known that we do not change but rather are changed.

Key in discovering these changes is the issue of seeing Jesus for Who He is in truth. We must not see in the scriptures what we think Christ looks like and then do a personal makeover. Human effort does not provide change. This is not a twelve step program.

Obedience of faith does not produce change. Obedience of faith is an opportunity to answer God’s will in how we can change the circumstances of others. God does not need our obedience to change our inner being, His presence does that.

Life tells us to take charge, to set goals, to achieve goals, to be successful or fall behind. That creates a class of weak and beggarly people devoid of any spiritual substance. This is the class of people who need the Lord the most.

1 Corinthians 1:26-27 English Standard Version

²⁶ For consider your calling, brothers: not many of you were wise according to worldly standards, not many were powerful, not many were of noble birth. ²⁷ But God chose what is foolish in the world to shame the wise; God chose what is weak in the world to shame the strong;

We may have started out this way, but because of His indwelling presence, we do not stay that way.

At what point in our lives did God call us? Was it a low point in our life when we knew we had failed and needed divine help? Had we heard of the Lord from others who had already received the help they needed? Someone must have at least whispered the name of Jesus. That is all it takes but someone was a witness to us along the way.

1 Corinthians 13:4-7 English Standard Version

⁴ Love is patient and kind; love does not envy or boast; it is not arrogant ⁵ or rude. It does not insist on its own way; it is not irritable or resentful; ⁶ it does not rejoice at wrongdoing, but rejoices with the truth. ⁷ Love bears all things, believes all things, hopes all things, endures all things.

This is how love acts. This does not say anything about what happens to the recipient of God’s perfect love. That comment is found in the first epistle of John.

1 John 4:19 English Standard Version (ESV) We love because he first loved us.

His perfect love abiding in us creates a love response. His love in us changes us. We may not have achieved the Oneness of the Trinity but as we grow in Christ and maintain this relationship with our Lord, we will discover how much He actually has changed us from the inside out.

1 Corinthians 2:16 English Standard Version (ESV) “For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But we have the mind of Christ.

A man and wife in a healthy loving relationship will over time begin to say the same thing at the same time under certain circumstances because they have begun to think alike. Having the mind of Christ is much like that if we do what it takes to keep a healthy loving relationship with our Lord.

It takes time to build that kind of relationship and time is on His side. He is patient and kind. We might not start out that way but fostering this loving relationship with our Lord helps us to become patient and kind people.

Each of the attributes of agape love listed in 1 Corinthians 13 is an attribute which can and should be developed in us because of His indwelling love. But it takes time and may be why patience is listed first.