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. (2 Corinthians 3:18, NIV 1984)
Rory McIlroy may be a lot of things. Hottest player in golf? Hard to argue that. Number one in the world? The rankings place him there. The next Tiger Woods? Still too early to tell, but a lot of indicators say he may be the best of his generation, yes.
But here is one thing McIlory assuredly is: his father’s son.
Perhaps you’ve been treated to a viewing of Rory as a child chipping balls into a washing machine on an Irish television show. Rory’s parents were there in the audience, proud and smiling. His father played off a four handicap then, and Rory was proud too, affirming that his father could really play.
There is keen significance to the father-child relationship when it comes to our walk with Jesus.
Jesus, of course, came as God incarnate, the Lord himself. And yet he also maintains this place as the Son of God, a child relating to his Father. When on earth, the Savior spoke privately and publically to the Father. One reason stood out for all this communication, one grand purpose. Jesus had come to reflect the Father.
Let’s consider this for a few moments. The Father, God of all creation, governed the universe as one who was and is continuously holy. His very person is robed in glory—not the kind that comes from the accomplishments of one’s self or the admiration of others, but rather the kind of glory that comes from one’s own nature. An earthly ruler with such bearing we might call “regal.” But God’s lordship exceeds any earthly regality. He is, as we have said, completely holy, unmatched in righteous perfection throughout all time.
Somehow, some way, Jesus was to reflect this glory. Of course, we recognize now that Jesus was himself God, interwoven with Father and Spirit in an inseparable Trinitarian existence. But while living on earth, Jesus was also fully man, facing our temptations and battling our impulses. To reflect the glory of God required Jesus to enact his godly nature in spite of his human nature. And yet he excelled!
Remarkably, perhaps frighteningly, we are called to the same purpose. We are to reflect the glory of God (or to “behold it as in a mirror,” as another translation renders it). This is not something we muster up in our own will, strength or intellect. We are, Paul wrote, “being transformed into the Lord’s likeness.” It is a work from outside us being accomplished within us by the work of God. Like our salvation itself, we must receive this work and let it take lasting hold in us, that people may say of us, “Surely they are children of their heavenly Father.”
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Jeff Hopper
September 10, 2012
Copyright 2012 Links Players International
The Links Daily Devotional appears Monday-Friday at www.linksplayers.com.