S208P7 – A new family: the many faces of Christ
Gal. 3:26-28
For you are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. For as many of you as were baptized into Christ have put on Christ. There is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all one in Christ Jesus.
They started off as a group of very different people. They were all different shapes and sizes, different colors and heritages. When they arrived, they all dressed as they normally would, each according to his or her taste. However, it did not take long for all this to change. Out went the pedestrian clothing, and in came the fatigues. Hair was buzzed or tied back tight. They were put through physical training to build them as needed. They had to learn how to think in new ways. They were being changed into something specific. In the end, they went from being men and women to being soldiers, from being a scattered and varied mass to being a uniform working body.
When we are clothed in the Lord, baptized in him, we undergo a massive change in spiritual appearance. It is not a change that can be seen with the eyes, but it is a change in how the spirit is presented. For those who live wearing the garment known as Christ, they appear to the Father just as the Son does. That is who He sees in them. This may be challenging to understand because many of Christ’s followers are women, but the Father does not see them spiritually as daughters because they are cloaked in the Son. The characteristics that separate us, such as whether we were born into the vine or grafted into it, or characteristics in us which are different than the man Jesus, do not divide us in the Father’s eyes. He sees the cover of the Son on each, imputing to us everything He is.
The way the Father sees us is the way we should want the world to see us. As part of this spiritual family, we want to be seen as the face of Christ, his representation on Earth today. Our natural physical characteristics do not impede our representing Christ in our spirit, and they need not be an obstacle keeping others from seeing Jesus in us. Physically, we are all very different. When it comes to our spirit and our purpose, we are one, or at least we should be. Each is a little Jesus, a reflection of the Son, showing the same face to the world. Father, increase in us what is necessary for others to see in us the Christ You see there.