Some of you may not get the joke but some of you will – I can imagine someone saying to me: “Mark is finally admitting he is in recovery after neck surgery!”
One of the heartbeats of our ministry is that Christ “transforms” us from “addict/idolater” to “new creation in Christ.” It’s NOT merely a recovery but a transformation.
Now that I’m physically recovering from neck surgery, I am in “recovery” which is a very good word, especially for physical problems. It’s better to be in recovery after surgery than in the morgue!
“Recovery” is a good word. It means to reclaim one’s old self which is what I want to do after this physical injury and surgery. BUT that’s NOT what I want to do when I am spiritually enslaved to an “addiction”! I don’t want to recover, I want Christ to transform me! Spiritual problems require a “transformation” not just “recovery” according to the Word.
Christ wants MORE for me than recovery – He wants a transformation that only His power can bring. He wants me to be new and not my old self reclaimed.
I know it may not sound like much of a difference at first but this key principle is the thrust of the biblical counseling movement for all “addictions” (which are really forms of idolatry but that’s a blog for another day).
2 Cor. 3:18, Rom. 12:2 and Eph. 4:22-24 reminds me that by the power of the Holy Spirit, I will be transformed into the likeness and image of Christ Himself.
The ESV of 2 Cor. 3:18 states: “And we all, with unveiled face, 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.” That “same image” is that of Christ and He is at work in us by His Spirit. Praise His Name!
– The Holy Bible : English standard version. 2001 (2 Co 3:18). Wheaton: Standard Bible Society.
-Mark (hard to believe that I am looking more like Christ every day)