In the final installment of his series, Dr. Greg Gifford wraps up the answer to the question “How do we change?”. He focuses on what it looks like to know God fully and behold His glory in all His attributes.
The Gospel is Necessary
When it comes to change, many Christians tend to approach it from a completely secular perspective. When we want to change, we get a new wardrobe, move to a new state, etc. But true transformation comes through pursuing God, which cannot be done apart from the Gospel. Circling back to the passage from 2 Corinthians 3, we are reminded that the Spirit is the one who removes the veil and regenerates our hearts. Apart from Him, we cannot bear fruit and truly change.
A Balanced Wheel
Think of beholding the glory of God like a wheel that needs to maintain balance. When it is balanced, it shows that the believer has an accurate understanding of God, knowing and beholding each of His attributes in full. However, it becomes unbalanced when there is a deficit in understanding and when we are not imaging God as we are supposed to.
It can also become unbalanced with an overemphasis on one attribute of God apart from the other. Some of us have approached God and only studied His love and mercy, but have never sat down to reckon with His justice or wrath. If we overemphasize the love of God, we will reflect Him in being loving, but will also greatly underestimate the other equal parts of His character. On the other hand, if we overemphasize the wrath of God, we can quickly become filled with a feeling of guilt or overly judgmental of others’ sins.
We want to become all of who God said that He is, representing Him in His totality rather than just in the aspects that we resonate most with.
Practical Application
Dr. Gifford finishes His series with these key questions:
- What is the area that you really need to grow in to be a better image-bearer of God?
- When you consider God’s Word, what do you struggle to reflect Him in?
In response to how you answer those questions, spend time studying the attribute of God that you need to better understand to image Him better. And remember that above all, pursuing Christ is essential to change. It is THE way to change and better represent God!
Thank you for joining us in this devotional series taught by Dr. Gifford. This blog post captures the essence of Dr. Greg Gifford’s series on the question “How Do We Change?”. You may click on the video above to hear more insightful details about how the pursuit of Christ brings about true change. Dr. Gifford is the Chair of the Undergraduate School of Biblical Counseling as well as a Biblical Counseling Professor for The Master’s University traditional on-campus program.
