Paul's Ministry ManualChikamu

Why Is Your Face Shining? 

A friend of mine was on a ministry trip to a rather dark region in Central Asia, and when she returned she told us of an incident. One day someone asked her, “Why is your face shining?” She is generally a happy person, but that was a striking question to hear from a relative stranger.

This is not, perhaps, what Paul primarily means in 2 Corinthians 3:12-18 by being transformed into the image of the Lord “with ever-increasing glory”; but it could be one aspect of it. Do our faces reflect our faith? We can keep our faith bottled up inside, but surely if it has any effect it should be evident in the image we project. We are recipients of the most spectacular news in the history of the world, and that news can have the most revolutionary effects on human nature ever conceived. Should that not be evident on our faces?

We as believers have direct, open access to the Lord. Paul, in our text, symbolizes that by saying we have “unveiled faces” (v. 18). This, he says, is distinct from the experience of the people of Israel, who saw Moses wearing a veil when he came down from Mount Sinai, and this veil was to hide the fact that the glory reflected in Moses’ shining face was fading (v. 13). For us, there is no fading. The object of our contemplation is the living Christ.

When we read the accounts of Jesus’ life in the Gospels, we see a remarkable figure, and He is a fully human figure—fully divine and fully human. Nicodemus said to Him, “Rabbi, we know that you are a teacher come from God, for no one can do these signs that you do unless God is with him” (John 3:2). Near the end of His life, some officers were sent to arrest Jesus, and when they came back to the authorities without Him, their explanation was, “No one ever spoke like this man” (John 7:46). Those incidents point to a moral glory that we need to contemplate. 

The Old Testament points us forward to the Savior-King. The Gospels introduce us to the living, breathing Savior. The Epistles explain so many facets of His glory. Revelation displays His glory finally revealed in all its majesty. Where should we not contemplate the glory of the Savior? Do you take time to contemplate the Savior’s glory? Do you spend time meditating on what is revealed of Him in His Word?

Prayer: Father, show me today some aspect of Your glory revealed in Your Son, and may that transform me so that I am a little more like Him. Do this, Lord, for the spreading of Your glory. May Your glory show through me in some way.