October 3

And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into His image with intensifying glory, which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit. — 2 Cor 3:18 BSB

When our desires and affections rise to where the Lord Jesus Christ is, lifted out of the smoke and fog, the noise and chaos, the cares and anxieties, the pursuits and pleasures, the sins and sorrows of this earthly life, we can, in faith and hope, in love and devotion, live above and beyond all things here below. As we gaze with unveiled face at the glory of the Lord, we are “transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord”—this is what it means to sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.

When the Lord Jesus ascended, He entered into His glory. As we look upon Him in His glory with faith and love, we reflect that glory, and saints who are blessed in this way enter heaven even while still on earth, tasting in advance the glory that will be revealed at the Lord’s coming before they are fully clothed with it. Few are so highly favored, and even those who are experience it only briefly and at rare intervals; but this doesn’t change the truth of the matter. It’s a blessed truth that, if we are part of Christ’s mystical body, the lack of experience we might feel doesn’t take away our connection to, or union with, our great covenant Head, nor the benefits that flow from it.