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see it with my natural eyes, he’s being conformed to the Christ.
God engineers everything to conform us to our parents; from
one degree of glory to another we are being changed as we see
Christ in the mirror. Every new revelation of Christ makes me
more like Christ.
I want to show the relationship between the gaze and the
glory. He said, “As I gaze, I’m changed.” The more I gaze, the
more I’m changed. James 1:24, “…for once he has looked at
himself and gone away, he has immediately forgotten what kind
of person he was.” Do you hear what James is saying? If I walk
away from the mirror, I’ll forget who I am. I’ll forget who I am
in Christ. That’s why we’ve got to keep looking in the mirror;
not to learn about the mirror but to see the Lord. Then, as we
see the Lord, we are changed!
Two things happen if you stop seeing Jesus. Number
one, you are going to forget who you are. Number two, the
process will stop. As you gaze, you are changed. If you stop
gazing, the sanctification process is over. That’s the process.
The starting point is His seed in you. The process is that you
look in the Bible to see Jesus and we’re changed.
When we see the Lord and we’re changed, some people
get confused what that means. They think, “If I see Him as a
great forgiver, I’ll become a great forgiver.” But the Bible says,
“He who has been forgiven much, loves much.” So, when I see
Jesus, I’m changed. That’s true. But if I see Jesus as a Teacher,
I don’t become a teacher. I become a student. If I see Him as
my Lord, I don’t become as a lord. I become a servant. What
if I saw Jesus as omnipresent? Do I become omnipresent?
That’s not what it means.
Let me illustrate from Psalm 23, “The Lord is my
Shepherd.” Let’s say that God shows me Christ as my
Shepherd. Do I become a shepherd? No. I lay down in green
pastures. I’m led in paths of righteousness. If I go through the
valley of the shadow of death, I won’t be afraid. When my
neighbor looks at me they don’t say, “Ed has become a
shepherd.” But they see me resting and they see my walking in
righteousness. And in their deep heart they think, “He must