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We've been looking at 2 Corinthians chapter 3 this week, this is day 5 of our
look through this chapter. And we're going to focus on one great verse of the
Bible today, 2 Corinthians 3 verse 18. Let me begin by reading that verse, "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
that Spirit.

" You remember we talked yesterday about Moses' face being veiled and how God
wants to unveil our hearts and minds and lives through His Spirit, through
Jesus. What happens when that unveiling occurs? Well, He tells us here that when
that occurs, all of a sudden you begin to reflect who Jesus is.

You see, God's purpose in your life, God's number one purpose is to make you
more like Jesus. And here's another of the verses in the Bible that talks about
that. There are many.

Romans 8, 29 says, "Those whom God foreknew, He predestined to be conformed to
the likeness of His Son, that He might be the firstborn among many brothers. "
It's been God's plan from the very beginning. In Genesis 1, God said, "Let us
make man in our image, in our likeness.

" He doesn't want to make us gods, but He wants to make us godly. He wants to
make us like Jesus Christ. From the very start, God made us in His image, but
mankind fell away from that through sin.

We sinned, and so then God, knowing all the time what He would do, brought about
our salvation through Christ. From the very beginning, though, you can see Him
saying, "I want to make mankind like Me. " So He wants you to be like Jesus.

Now, what does that mean? What does it mean to be Christ-like? What does it mean
to be like Jesus?

We don't have time today to look at all the passages in the Bible about this
when He talks about reflecting the Lord's glory. What does that mean? But to me,
to be like Christ means to think like Jesus, to feel like Jesus, and to act like
Jesus.

If that's not being impacted the way I think, the way I feel, the way I act, how
can I say I'm like Jesus? To be like Christ means I think more and more like
Jesus, that my thoughts begin to be of the things of God. My thoughts begin to
be of love for other people in ways that they were not before.

And it means I begin to feel more and more like Jesus. I have the kind of
emotions He would have when you see certain circumstances in life. The
circumstances that would have brought Him joy, are bringing Him joy right now
from heaven, would bring me joy.

The circumstances that would cause Jesus deep hurt, cause me deep hurt. I feel
like Jesus, and then I act like Jesus. I do what Jesus would have done in that
circumstance.

That's what it means to be like Jesus. And this verse, verse 18, gives us some
insight into how that begins to happen in our lives. With unveiled faces, we
reflect the Lord's glory, and through that we are transformed into His likeness,
with ever increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.

This is an insight into how God's making you more like Jesus. This likeness is
produced by letting Jesus Christ live through you. To think like Jesus, to feel
like Jesus, to act like Jesus, He's telling us here, this is not a matter of
imitation.

You look at how Jesus did it in the Bible, and I try to imitate it. It's a
matter of reflection. You live in relationship with Jesus, and it will naturally
happen.

This is not about trying to be like Jesus. Please, do not do that. It'll wear
you out, and you'll fall flat on your face again and again.

Two of us could try to be like Jesus. This is about reflecting the life of
Jesus, by letting Jesus be Himself through you. Here's just a simple truth of
human life.

Nobody can be Jesus but Jesus. So don't try to be Jesus. Let Jesus be Himself
through you.

And these verses tell us how that happens. It happens through reflection. He
reflects His glory through us.

This is why the veil had to be removed. You might remember when Jesus died, when
He died on the cross, the veil in the temple, in the temple there was a veil
between the holy place and the holy of holies. And that veil kept people from
going into the place where God's presence was.

That veil in the temple was torn in two, you remember, from top to bottom. And
in that God was saying, "My presence is now dwelling in people. I'm going to
make of my people a temple of the Holy Spirit.

" But He was also saying, "I'm removing the veil. I'm removing the veil from
your heart. " And because He's done that, now there is freedom in Christ to
reflect God's glory in your life.

As you live in Jesus' presence, you will reflect Jesus' glory in your life. And
because the veil has been removed, I now have the freedom in Christ to live in
the presence of Jesus in daily life. As you live in Jesus' presence, you will
reflect Jesus' glory.

You can't help but reflect His glory because He is glorious. How does this work?
I'll tell you this, it's not instant.

It's not as all of a sudden today I pray a certain prayer and all of a sudden
all the glory of Jesus is reflected through my life. I want you to notice in
these verses He talks about being transformed by the glory of Jesus. He talks
about ever-increasing glory in our lives.

So obviously this is a process, a process that God is working in my life and in
your life. So how does that process work? The question is, if God does it this
way, how does the Holy Spirit then work to make us like Jesus, to reflect the
glory of Jesus through our lives?

He does it through His truth in our lives. He does it through His people in our
lives. And He even does it through the circumstances that He sends into our
lives.

God uses truth. God uses people. God uses circumstances in your life to get you
to places where you recognize, "I need to be reflecting the glory of Jesus in
this and not depending on myself.

" The circumstances, good and bad, that come into your life. Some people want to
decide, "Did Satan send this one or did God send this one? How does all this
work, this circumstance, whether it's good or bad?

" The truth of the matter is, it doesn't matter. It doesn't matter whether Satan
sent it or God designed it or the combination of those two. The truth is, God
can use any circumstance in your life to get you to a place where you're living
in the presence of Jesus in a fresh new way.

And when you do that, you'll reflect His glory in an ever-increasing way. God
also uses people in your life. You have people in your life who are reflecting
God's glory.

And through those people, God's going to show you something of who Jesus is, how
Jesus wants to work in your life. He uses those people in your life. He also
uses, He most significantly uses His truth in your life.

You see, as I pick up God's Word and as I read God's Word, that's like a direct
connection to the glory of God. As I'm reading through His Word, as I'm seeing
His truth, this is an opportunity for me to open up the door of reflecting who
Jesus is in my life. That's why you need God's truth in your life.

Now, I'm not talking about in a rote way. I'm not talking about in a way that
forces God to do what you want to do. Some people read God's Word and they think
because I read it, God has to now do what I want.

No, you read it in relationship to Him. You read God's Word in His presence. You
see, as you begin to read God's Word in the presence of God, as you begin to
relate to people in your life in the presence of God, knowing you're in His
presence, as you begin to face the circumstances in your life, knowing no matter
what the circumstance, I am now living in the presence of God.

That's how you begin more and more and more to reflect the glory of God in your
life. Now, this is a big subject, God's glory in my life, your life. Let's take
a minute to talk to the only one who has this glory, to talk to Him.

Would you pray with me? Jesus, you are glorious. And we look at ourselves and we
realize we are not.

When the scripture says we might reflect your glory in some ever-increasing way,
whether we've been a Christian for a year or 50 years, there's something in us
that wonders how that can happen, because we see our own faults, we see our own
failings, but Lord, we also see you. And we're reminded in these verses, in this
verse today, that if it depends on us, all we get is us, and there's no glory
there. You're the one who's glorious.

So as we drop the pretenses, we drop the veils, we drop the mask, as we sense
the freedom of depending on your spirit, or we know, as we live life in your
presence, as we seek truth in your presence, as we relate to others in your
presence, that Jesus, your presence is going to make a difference in our lives,
and there will be ever-increasing glory. I may see it this day, I may not, but I
can know it will happen because I know who you are. You are glorious.

And so we ask that you help us to trust you for what only you can do in our
lives. Lord, do this work in us. We humbly ask.

Help us to come to places through you and your spirit. We confidently pray
because you've said you will do it, where we are reflecting your glory in
ever-increasing ways, so that one day when we're in heaven, as the scripture
says, we will stand before you, we'll see you face to face, and we will fully
enjoy your glory. We pray this.

We ask this, Jesus, in your glorious name, amen. Next week, we get to look at
one of my favorite chapters in all of the Bible, 2 Corinthians chapter 4.