It's like looking in a mirror...

When I was in high school, I had two teachers who were married to each other. It was easy to know they were married, because they shared the same last name. But if you only knew their first names, you might still wonder if they shared some other connection. There was something familiar that they shared between them. They shared similar mannerisms, speech patterns, phrases, and even the same hair style! Somehow, though, I don’t think they began their lives together with all those similarities in place.

Over time, they probably grew to resemble each other. They spent countless hours together in deep and intimate ways. They raised children together. They shared the same profession, and many similar interests and passions. You may recognize this pattern from your own life or relationships. After spending a lot of time close to another person, it is not unusual to experience changes in yourself that resemble things unique to the other person.

This coming Sunday we remember the transfiguration of Jesus. It’s one of the weirder stories in the Bible, and it can make you ask, “Huh?” Jesus experiences deep communion with God, and as a result something about him changes - he becomes bright, radiant, and dazzling. In the Old Testament book of Exodus, we read that Moses had an encounter with God that produced very similar effects. His face was so radiant, that he had to wear a veil.

One of the implications of these encounters for us is that we all possess the ability to be changed and transfigured. Maybe we’ve already been changed because of our spouses, or other people in our lives that we are close to and admire. The same is true for us as it relates to our relationship with Christ. The more time we spend with Christ, the more we will become like him. We spend time with him through prayer, Bible reading and study, worship, and fellowship with others who are on the Christian journey. The more we experience closeness to Christ through the development of this deep relationship, the more Christ will work through us to bring about the transfiguration of our hearts, minds, and spirits. Spending this intimate time with Christ enables the Holy Spirit to reshape us in every way, making us more like Christ each and every day.

The Apostle Paul reminds us that when we, like him, strive to imitate and be like Christ by getting to know him, then “he will transform our humble bodies that they may be conformed to his glorious body, by the power that enables him to make all things subject to himself” (Philippians 3:21). May we all be radiant examples of Christ in us.