Ever-Increasing Splendor

1
Ever-Increasing
Splendor
2

• C.S. Lewis observed
• All mortals tend to turn into the things they
  are pretending to be.

3
Choose The Image Carefully

• When Paul said, Be imitators of me, just as I
  also am of Christ (1 Corinthians 111), he was
  pointing Christians in a different direction from
  the world, for everyone seeks to imitate
  someone or something, everyone chooses a goal or
  role model, everyone picks something they
  treasure.
• Yet there is a warning, choose your treasure
  wisely, because you will become like what you
  consider to be the most important thing or person
  in life
• For where your treasure is, there will your
  heart be also (Matthew 621).

4

• Choose your treasure well, because, for good or
  ill, it will take your heart with it! (Fowler,
  p. 373).
• The heart is with the treasure, and the mouth
  speaks what is in the heart (Matthew 1234).
• The heart is with the treasure and the mouth will
  soon reveal where the heart is, and if our
  conversations dont tell on us, our schedules
  will.
• Let us avoid like the plague, this scenario
• They followed vanity and became vain (2 Kings
  1715).

5

• The idea is that they became like the gods they
  worshipped. They bowed down to nothingness and
  became nothing... And the tragedy was that the
  followers of that empty religion had become empty
  themselves their lives lacked substance, their
  personalities became trivial, their characters
  lacked depth. As one man described his friend,
  Deep down, hes shallow! (Dilday, pp.
  419-420).
• And they became as detestable as that which they
  loved (Hosea 910).

6
Waiting For A Feeling First?

• This perspective has kept some people stuck for
  decades. I think it is pretty obvious that Jesus
  did not feel like being crucified (Luke
  2241-44), yet He died for us anyway.
• The Hebrew writer notes that the feeling that
  Jesus was focused on, was not the feeling at the
  moment, but the joy that waited Him after His
  death (Hebrews 122).
• If you waited for the feeling to do strenuous
  exercise or go on a diet you would never do it.

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• James, for example, talks about a person who
  bridles his tongue (James 126), which means that
  this man controls his tongue even when his
  feelings are telling him to say something he
  should not.
• Paul spoke of buffeting his body (1 Corinthians
  927), which would equally include the idea of
  making a firm decision to overrule the present
  feelings our body may have about something.
• Finally, as you may have read or otherwise
  learned, feelings are quite unreliable and can
  often lead us in the wrong direction
• Proverbs 2826 He who trusts in his own
  
• heart is a
  fool.

8
Feeling Like A Hypocrite?

• It should be rather obvious that no one starts
  out with patience or any other virtue at 100
  full strength.
• The very fact that we are told that the Christian
  life is one of growth (2 Peter 318 grow in the
  grace and knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus
  Christ) should inform us that everyone starts
  with a percentage or degree of a virtue.
• The Bible equally speaks of us increasing in a
  virtue, For it these qualities are yours and are
  increasing (2 Peter 18).

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• And may the Lord cause you to increase and
  abound in love for one another (1
  Thessalonians 312).
• That, as you received from us instruction as to
  how you ought to walk and please God (just as you
  actually do walk), that you may excel still more
  (1 Thessalonians 41).

10
When Real Spiritual Muscle is Added

• The devil wants us to wait for the feelings
  because he knows that such will keep us stuck and
  he equally knows that when we overrule the
  feelings we have at the moment and do the right
  thing that such is when real growth is taking
  place and spiritual muscle is being gained.
• The devil knows that he can no longer tempt the
  man or woman who has decided to use their
  feelings as a tool rather than obey them as a
  master.

11
You Have To Put It On

• Let us therefore lay aside the deeds of darkness
  and put on the armor of light (Romans 1312).
• But put on the Lord Jesus Christ (Romans
  1314).
• That, in reference to your former manner of
  life, you lay aside the old self... and put on
  the new self (Ephesians 422,24).
• Put on the full armor of God
  (Ephesians 611).

12

• Put them all aside... And beyond all these
  things put on love, which is the perfect bond of
  unity (Colossians 38,14).
• There is a mysterious dynamic here. In order to
  become what we are, we have to try it on and walk
  around in it, even if it feels unreal at first...
  We do not wait for the Spirit to put it on us
  (Andree Seu).
• 1 Corinthians 134-8
• God offers faith (Romans 1017), but He cannot
  have the faith for us.
• Walk by the Spirit and you will not gratify the
  desires of the flesh (Galatians 516).

13
The Swap That God Offers

• Here is how one prophet described this Giving
  them a garland instead of ashes, the oil of
  gladness instead of mourning, the mantle of
  praise instead of a spirit of fainting (Isaiah
  613)
• This section of Scripture is in the context of
  the coming Messiah and the Gospel (61-1-2).

14
Growth Will Sneak Up On Us

• In the course of time, I realized that I was no
  longer the same person that I had been at the
  start of the journey. But it took me by surprise.
  It is like sitting at my computer and feeling
  cold, and turning up the thermostat and going
  back to the keyboard, and then noticing about a
  half hour later that I am warm. The warming was
  going on for a while before I started to be aware
  of it (Andree Seu).

15
What We Can See Every Day

• But we all, with unveiled face beholding as in a
  mirror the glory of the Lord, are being
  transformed into the same image from glory to
  glory, just as from the Lord, the Spirit (2
  Corinthians 318).
• How can any of us complain that the view or
  outlook we have every day is discouraging?
• If we are really looking at Jesus and trying to
  walk in His steps, change will happen, in fact,
  no one can stop such a person from changing.