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This was part two of our Romans 12 as a rule of life discussion - we had this discussion as we met in a local coffee house - very fun. + Alan
from The New Man by Thomas Merton - on spiritual identity "The Divine Spirit purifies the image of God in my sould by faith. He cures my spiritual blindness, opens my eyes to the things of God. He takes possession of my will so that I no longer remain the captive of my own passions and compulsions, but am able to act in the fruitful tranquility of spiritual freedom. In gradually teaching me charity He perfects the likeness of God in my soul by conforming me to Christ. For my union with Christ is much more than an imitation of His virtues as they are described in the Gospel: it must be a union created in me by the transforming action of His own Spirit. And the Life which the Spirit breathes into my spirit, is Christ Himself, mystically present in my own being and my own person. The supernatural life which makes Him spiritually present in me is just as really my life as the physical life which makes Him naturally present in me." "But if my true spiritual identity is found in my identification with Christ, then to know myself fully, I must know Christ. And to know Christ I must know the Father, for Christ is the image of the Father. The "identity" which begins to make itself known and felt within me, under the action of the Holy Spirit, is the identity of a son of the Father: a son who is re-created in the likeness of the only Son, Who is the perfect Image of the Father. The beginning of self-realization in the fullest Christian sense is therefore a sharing in the orientation which directs Christ, as Word, entirely to His Father. And here we truly enter into the deep mystery of God." "All of us, gazing with unveiled face on the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, as from the Lord who is the Spirit." –2 Corinthians 3:18 "Do not conform yourselves to this age but be transformed by the renewal of your mind, that you may discern what is the will of God, what is good and pleasing and perfect." –Romans 12:2 Transformed is same word - metamorphoo - to be changed into another form - to be transfigured. What form are we being re-made into? According to 2 Cor. 3:18, into the image we are to be looking at - gazing at - with unveiled faces - into that same image - the image of Jesus the Lord. The word "gazing" or "beholding" is "looking at as in a mirror" - has to do with reflection - gazing as into a mirror. We look at Him and see ourselves in Him - our real selves - who we really are - not the illusion - not what has been stacked up on top of the real. We allow Him to show us who we really are and we become that by His activity in us. "Glory" has to do with how something seems - it being apparent to those who look at us. I've heard it described as "manifested presence." It does have to do with manifestation for sure - something being brought out in the open for all to see. That's it. the more we look at Him and allow Him to show us and make us into who we really are, the more we will look like Him - the more apparent it will be who we are, who we are a part of. I know I talk about this all the time. I don't apologize for that. This is the center of what we are all doing here. It is the very heart of what it means to be a Christian. We've been talking about Romans 12 as a rule of life. A rule of life is something to spend some time on, wouldn't you think? We're going to spend some time getting to know this. If we think we've known it already, we're going to lay that all down and pretend like we're ignorant. Then we're going to allow God to teach us what that all means all over again - in a fresh way, forgetting our presuppositions. > Talk about how your life has been transformed in some way
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