By The Spirit

DEVOTION

2 CORINTHIANS

BY THE SPIRIT

2 Cor 3:12-18

12 Therefore, since we have such a hope, we are very bold. 13 We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to keep the Israelites from gazing at it while the radiance was fading away. 14 But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. 15 Even to this day when Moses is read, a veil covers their hearts. 16 But whenever anyone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away. 17 Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. 18 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.

NIV

If it was any clearer it would jump up and slap us right in the face, it fact, it is doing just that. Which would we rather have, a veiled law which bring us nothing but slavery to death or Jesus who gives us liberty and life? Those who try to live by the law, either the one God penned on the tablets of stone, or the one man has written in their bylaws and doctrines are under a veil which hides the glory of God. The Glory of God cannot be seen in its fullness within laws, rules and regulations, but only in the freedom Christ brings. When God created man and placed him in the glorious garden he neither handed him a list of rules and regulations, nor did he tell him to make such a list for him to live by. God merely gave him one command; man only had to obey God. Man had full access to the Glory of God and he blew it, so this whole law thing, this whole list of don’ts was simply to show us all that we cannot do it and if we try we will be under this veil unable to see the full glory of God as he intended us to. But Jesus takes that veil away and we can be restored to the full glory God intended in the first place. We do not have to struggle with guilt because we have failed to keep even just one of the smallest points of the law. We do not have to fear death because we cannot fulfill certain parts of the law. But low and behold we sure try, and we even add a bunch of our own laws, rules and regulations to ensure we have a full and comprehensive list of do’s and don’ts to check off. The problem is we lie to ourselves about how well we are doing. We pretend we are doing all the right things and that we are not doing all bad things. That is being behind a veil unable to see the real truth. How can we reflect the Lord’s glory when we live in so much failure? How can we reflect Jesus when we are trying to live by the law and failing to uphold up? So let us live truly unveiled, reflecting the glory of the Lord and we will be transformed even more into his likeness, not with a written code on paper, but with the instilled law of love in our hearts by the Spirit. We live in the grace of God, his divine influence upon our hearts and we reflect him to the world. Let us live by the Spirit.