Pastor's Paragraphs

New Year?  You've got to be kidding!  Wasn't it just June?  I always like to say "you can only be where you are" so I guess this is where we are.  Last year was an amazing year, and the coming year promises to be just as wild.  A Presidential election that will continue the course we're on (change without substance or purpose) or change it hopefully in the right direction. There will certainly be abundant opportunity and challenges a plenty. That's every year though isn't it?  We shouldn't be suprised and we shouldn't be unprepared! We may be thinking about what this new year will hold and what our part will be in faithfully following God in what's to come, at least I hope so.  So let me suggest a worthy theme for our lives, and for our Church.  Sometimes I find a passage of Scripture that has very different sounding translations from different translations of the Bible.  I love searching out why a verse is translated as it is.  The Hebrew and Greek languages are sometimes difficult to translate into English, often because we don't have equal words in english.  II Cor. 3:18 is one of those passages that seems almost contradictory between translations of the Bible.  ESV translates "And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the Glory of the Lord...", whereas the HCSB translates it "We all, with unveiled faces, are reflecting the glory of the Lord...".  So which is right? "Beholding", or "reflecting"?  The answere is yes!  The Greek verb kataptrizo carries the idea of looking into a mirror so we behold and reflect, it is one of those cool concepts that the Greek language portrays so amazingly.  In IICor 3 Paul is showing the Corinthians how God is revealed and reflected using the example of Moses who after being with God reflected Him so radically that the Israelites couldn't even look at Him.  The whole of vs. 18 says, "And we all, beholding the Glory of The Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another.  For this comes from the Lord who is The Spirit." (ESV)  Now replace "beholding" with "reflecting" and you get the whole meaning of the verse as Paul intended.  We behold Him, and we reflect Him, like looking into a mirror and are transformed "from glory to glory"(HCSB) or "one degree of glory to another"(ESV).  This should be the year that we behold Him and reflect Him and are transformed from wherever we are to the next level of reflection and Glory.  It should be a life long process until we reach ultimate Glory where we are done reflecting Him here and behold Him face to face there!!  When people really look at Him (as we are doing in our study on the attributes of God) and when we follow his leading in service and in giving and in the spiritual disciplines we will see Him better and He will BE seen better in us.  That will make this the best year we've ever had reguardless of the circumstances this year brings.  So, BEHOLD and REFLECT and be TRANSFORMED!!  For His GLORY!