"It's one thing to profess God, it's another thing to resemble Him."
- Thomas Watson, The Godly Man's Picture, pg 32
There are many glorious truths within the Gospel, but one in particular that is literally life-changing and soul-transforming is it's power to radically alter the very nature of a defiled sinner into the exquisite beauty and spiritual likeness of Jesus Christ. This is where sanctification is of utmost importance in the life of a Christian. Sanctification is often thought of as simply turning a bad person good; but what is the definition or standard of good that a Christian is sanctified into? This standard is not a set of rules or laws that Christians are to resemble, but rather it is the very image of Jesus Christ as found in the Gospel. The Gospel does not transform a Christian into some abstract moral goodness, but specifically into the likeness of the one whom the Gospel glories in. It is the face of Jesus that we are to look to for sanctification as well as salvation. Jesus not only saves us, but He replicates Himself in us. At the beginning of Creation, Adam and Eve were created perfectly in the image of God, but then sin entered their hearts and not only separated Man from God, but also marred the image of God in Man. Jesus Christ came as God manifested in the flesh not solely to reunite Man with God, but also to restore that perfect image of God in Man - and that image is Jesus Himself.
As we look at ourselves in the mirror each day, may we see less and less of our old sinful reflections, and in their place see more and more of Jesus' lovely holiness and beautiful countenance looking back at us. Through the Gospel, let us take on the appearance of the very one who saves us. In his book "The Godly Man's Picture" the 17th century Puritan Thomas Watson concludes this way, "As a painter looking at a face draws a face like it in the picture, so looking at Christ in the mirror of the Gospel, we are changed into his similitude. We may look at other objects that are glorious yet not be made glorious by them. A deformed face may look at beauty, and yet not be made beautiful. A wounded man may look at a surgeon, and yet not be healed. But this is the excellence of divine knowledge, that it gives us such a sight of Christ as to make us partake of his nature."
"We all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory." - 2 Corinthians 3:18
