God is the source of all spiritual transformation. God is approached and seen only through his Son, Jesus Christ the Messiah. We are transformed as we gaze, as we behold the Lord. But the Bible says that “no one has ever seen God…” (John 1:18a, ESV). That is true. With the human eye, no one has ever seen God. Moses has come as close as anyone to seeing God, but he only saw the back of God’s presence. Amazing! God dwells in unapproachable light (1 Tim. 6:16). His holiness and majesty are too much for sin-bound and blinded human eyes.
But God has made a way for us to see him. John 1:18 concludes by stating, “…the only God, who is at the Father’s side, he has made him known.” Yes, Jesus Christ, the one and only unique Son of God, the second member of the Holy Trinity has made God known to us. “He is the radiance of the glory of God and the exact imprint of his nature, and he upholds the universe by the word of His power. After making purification for sins, he sat down at the right hand of the Majesty on high” (Hebrews 1:3, ESV)
Jesus Christ is Lord! He is the exact image of God. In Jesus we see the reflected glory of God. By beholding Christ by faith we see God. As we open ourselves to the “glory of the Lord we are being transformed into the same image” (2 Corinthians 3:18a). Our focused attention on the glory of the Lord, the New Covenant and Jesus Christ, over time will transform us into the image of Christ. So, we then become the image of the image of God! As we continue to behold him, we will move from “one degree of glory to another” (2 Corinthians 3:18b). While Jesus is the exact image of God, we are not as yet the exact image of Jesus Christ. We start at one degree glory and move to another. We are an imperfect image of the image, but never-the-less, we are an image of Christ. This image for us is by grace. Jesus is the image of God by nature. We are “partakers of the divine nature”(2 Peter 1:4), but we are still humans. Jesus is both by nature Divine and human. But my point is this: As we open ourselves to God and seek to “behold the glory of the Lord” we will be transformed by the grace of God shining upon and in us. This is where the five indispensable ingredients for spiritual transformation come into play. God is the one who transforms but we must be in a setting that allows us to be transformed. The five indispensable ingredients place us there.
Allow me to illustrate. Suppose you had a large mason jar that you wanted filled with water. There are some things that need to happen to the mason jar before it can be filled. First, you have to remove the lid of the jar. Imagine the jar under the water faucet with water pouring all over the jar but none going in because the lid was still on. So the lid must be removed. Second, you must place the jar under the faucet. The water can run all day. You could turn the faucet open all the way and more water would come out, but until the jar is under the faucet, it will not be filled, not even a drop. This is a crude and incomplete analogy, but in the same way you must open yourself up to the transforming grace of God and you must put yourself where the grace can flow into you. That is what the five indispensable ingredients for spiritual transformation do for you.
Invocation is the first step in opening yourself to God. It takes you out of yourself and focuses your thoughts on God, who he is and what he is doing and has done. It removes obstacles to God’s grace. In a way, it unveils your face (2 Cor. 3:18). It prepares you to begin beholding the glory of the Lord.
The other ingredients are the means of beholding that glory. I’ll be writing on these soon, but they all involve the use of Scripture, for in it we see that glory. For review, the five indispensable ingredients for spiritual transformation are:
1. Invocation
2. Mediation
3. Application
4. Memorization
5. Transformation
Jimmy Kinnaird 