It’s summer and even here in the UK, there are more opportunities to wear shades or sunglasses. I like wearing them instead of the prescription glasses I normally wear year-round, and besides their practical applications it gives me a slight (false) sense of being cool and remote, more interesting maybe?
There are, though, some inconveniences to wearing them as I’m also relying on them for focus, so they need to stay on when the sun goes behind the clouds, or if I’m driving through a tunnel or browsing a dimly lit shop. Often, I don’t realise the shop assistant can’t see my eyes as I talk to them, until I hear them thinking ‘What’s this guy hiding?’
In this week’s reading, 2 Corinthians 3:7 talks about a veil and like sunglasses, a veil serves to shut light out, shut light in and, to some extent distort/hide our identity.
Unsurprisingly, Moses didn’t have the latest brand name wrap around mirrored shades you see the pro cyclists wearing, just perhaps a simple covering to shield the Israelites from the former glory fading from his face, but it served the same purpose: providing some relative seclusion from prying eyes!
So, what’s different today? Why are we done with hiding now?
The Bible tells us:
We are not like Moses, who would put a veil over his face to prevent the Israelites from seeing the end of what was passing away. But their minds were made dull, for to this day the same veil remains when the old covenant is read. It has not been removed, because only in Christ is it taken away. (2 Corinthians 3v14, NIV)
Here we’re told that as believers we can now see something new, something eternal, a wonderful revelation of who God is, what He’s done, and our true shameless nature. The light that blinded Paul’s natural eyes now enables us to see by His supernatural revelation as the letter of the Spirit becomes written on our hearts.
These verses are statements of truth received and lived out by faith, yet just as shades filter out sunlight, we can unwittingly entertain a veil that dims the true light of the Son: slipping into the old ways of striving and self-effort, caught up in the things of this world that dull our edge and impair out identity, and with it the temptation to hide our imagined ‘unworthiness’. We can be tricked into thinking we’re doing OK until the clouds start to gather and the light fades, resigned by then to rely on the light that remains where the enemy lurks in the shadows to try and deprive us from empowering hope and vision, but…
If the ministry that brought condemnation was glorious, how much more glorious is the ministry that brings righteousness! 2 Corinthians 3:9
The truth and good news is that God has now dialled up the lights to 11 (10 being the maximum!). The veil is torn, removed, and we need only to look upon the Lord again to reposition and regain this reality for ourselves, something we do daily as we “put on Christ.” Then increasingly, the freedom promised will be reflected in our eyes for all to see, a growing boldness and confidence that says, “I don’t need to pretend and I’ve no reason to hide.” This is the freedom the world craves, a freedom only found in the Lord and only visible in us!
Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord’s glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. (2 Cor 3:17-18)
Wow, what a staggering revelation! Pause and reflect!
So back to the sunglasses and if it helps, let’s imagine (we’re imagining here) whizzing them, chucking them, you don’t need them, they’re no good for you, don’t suit you, they make you look… old. That veil is done, gone. Don’t allow your eyes to peer through it any more and so become dimmed.
And when you pull on your shades on a sunny day, (which may take a while in the UK) remember to thank God that…
For what was glorious has no glory now in comparison with the surpassing glory. And if what was transitory came with glory, how much greater is the glory of that which lasts! (2 Cor 3:10-11)
