When one turns to the Lord, the veil is removed. Now the Lord is the Spirit and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 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. 2 Corinthians 3:17-18

Many of us want to be good. I believe deep down, there is a recognition in most of humanity to desire something greater than ourselves. God created us that way. To aspire toward goodness in the land of the living. For glory to come and rest here with us.

But somewhere amidst the Fall, in the turning away instead of toward God, even this pure hearted desire, placed in us by the Father our Creator, became distorted. We’ve somehow begun to think that we can become good without God, even though everything that’s good in us is from Him.

God is the absolute. Jesus is the Alpha and the Omega. The Beginning and the End. He existed before all things and in Him all things hold together.

We have no good apart from Him. We are no good without Him. The glory we desire to see here on earth belongs to God alone. We’ve forgotten God, but not His gifts. We’ve forgotten how much we need Him, but once we get what we want, we turn away from Him again – seldom even saying thank you. We’ve forsaken His eternal beauty, and instead grasp for the fleeting kind.

There’s a veil before our eyes. In our folly, we think we can become like God without Him.

We somehow are ok with settling for fading and concealed glory, but in Jesus, the glory of God is revealed in its fullness. This glory is unfading, everlasting, steadfast. It’s so much better than what we have, yet we’ve settled for enough. Like those who have gone before us, we’ve accepted life in the desert. Life in exile.

We’ve grown content staying where we are when the Promised Land is just around the corner. We cling to the temporary even though there is an eternal glory that far outweighs them all. Our hearts find no rest because our eyes are fixed on the seen rather than the unseen, which could never satisfy the desires and longings that inhabit us. They are longings for home, longings of heaven. God alone can satisfy. God alone can help us to become more like Jesus. God alone brings eternal – far-reaching and life-changing – glory.

Until we seek and we find the Lord earnestly and wholeheartedly, there will be no rest. Just restlessness. What is seen is temporary. What is unseen is eternal.

In Jesus, this veil is removed. God revealed Himself to us through the person of Jesus, so that our eyes can be fixed on him without dying at the sight of his complete and utter holiness. Because of Jesus, we’re able to see God like never before.

All we have to do is turn to the Lord. As we behold him, Christ does the beautiful heavy lifting of our spiritual formation. We simply need to gaze upon his beauty, and delight in the miracle of his presence. Then, he will transform us. Not the other way around. We think before we find ourselves at his feet we have to clean ourselves up, and solve those problems in our lives. But it’s the opposite.

Jesus is the one who can set you free from your addiction.

Jesus is the one who can heal your broken heart.

Jesus is the one who can restore your hope in him.

Jesus is the one who can give you clarity.

Jesus is the one who helps you trust in Him.

Because Jesus dwelt among us, and now His Spirit rests in us, we have access to God like never before. We get to behold Him. We get to adore Him, and to gaze upon His beauty.

It’s an honor and a privilege to meet with Him like that. To have access because God’s Spirit is with us wherever we go.

So often, we forget.

On our journeys of becoming something, we take God out of the equation. We try to check things off a list, thinking that just doing them is going to transform us. We wake up earlier, take a day off, get out into nature, abstain from food, etc, and think the key to living a better life rests simply in the performance of those actions. But 2 Corinthians shows us none of these lead to true life change without Christ. It’s the Lord’s presence that makes these practices and disciplines transformative at all.

When we participate in these with a spirit of contemplation – carefully studying Jesus and His ways, and seeking Him earnestly – the Spirit does a work in us. Transformation is intentional and active, but the Spirit does the heavy lifting. As we worship Jesus, our hearts are softened toward him and we make more room for His love to flow through us. This is God’s goodness on display in the land of the living. This is life abundant.

All of this comes from the Lord. There may be other journeys of becoming, but the only one that leads to everlasting life and transformation is the one where Jesus is beheld, honored, and adored. We become what we behold. I don’t know about you, but I want my eyes to be fixed on the only one who is unchanging.

Who will never change His mind about me.

Who has never asked me to earn His love.

Whose affection I don’t have to fight for.

Who loves me as I am, and yet loves me so much that He also wants more for me.

He wants me to know redemption and restoration. He wants me to become more like Him. After knowing Jesus – learning His heart, and His ways – I want that too.

The act of beholding is simple, yet difficult for many of us. It requires a slowing down, a redirecting. It’s the careful act and study of something. Of Someone. And that takes time, patience, and energy. Many of us accept defeat before we’ve even set out to delight ourselves in the Lord. But the invitation is far greater than we could ever ask, think, or imagine.

Come and behold him.

Don’t just think of him passively, numb to the reality that Jesus is God With Us. Ask Him to help you become aware of His presence in your life. Ask Him to open your eyes, open your ears, and soften your heart.

To behold Jesus is something sacred and beautiful and wonderful. Often, we just scratch the surface in faith. But beholding is a deep calling out to deep. It’s a heart-speaks-to-heart kind of thing.

To behold is to recognize the invitation now to be with him.

On this side of the cross, because of Jesus, we get to fix our eyes on him and take in all his beauty and majesty. This is an honor and a privilege. We get to seek His face. Glory has been revealed to us through the person of Jesus. We don’t just have to learn of God’s holiness through another person’s testimony; we can experience Him for ourselves. In Jesus, we get to see the eternal glory that far outweighs them all.

Why would we want the veil to remain before our eyes when this is the truth we can see after Jesus takes it away?

…

Come and behold him.

Authentically and purely – with vision unobscured. Come and delight in him. Undistracted and unafraid of what you’ll find, with a heart ready and willing to receive.

Turn your eyes upon Jesus, and let Him tear the veil before your eyes.

Your mind and heart will be cleansed. Trust the Holy Ghost to fill your heart and spirit with worship again, so you may join the angels and all the redeemed – the prophets and saints and martyrs – in singing the songs of the Father, and the Son who bled for you, and the Holy Ghost who is the Spirit of the Father and the Son.