Day 24

The internal presence of Christ is reflected externally.

‘When Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tablets of the covenant law in his hands, he was not aware that his face was radiant because he had spoken with the Lord.’ (Exodus 34:29)

When Moses came down from the mountain with the Ten Commandments, he discovered the Israelites had built a golden calf and were worshipping it in his absence. Moses was so angry, he took the tablets and smashed them. I imagine that if you went to Moses’ tent later that evening you might find him with his head in his hands saying, ‘What a fool I am! I’ve been with God for 40 days to receive the law and now in anger I have smashed the tablets on which they were written into a thousand pieces.’

If however, you went to the Israelite camp that same night and listened to what the people were saying about Moses, you would probably hear them say something like, ‘Did you notice Moses’ face? Did you see the glory of God?’ Moses did not see this in himself. He saw his frustration and anger.

We do not see Christ-likeness in ourselves. That is for other people to see because when they see it, it is utterly genuine. We can fake spirituality, we can fake Christianity but we can never fake Christlikeness. Our task is never to try to be Christ-like or spiritual (that will tempt us to be a phony) but to ‘[fix] our eyes on Jesus, the pioneer and perfecter of our faith’ (Hebrews 12:2) and He will look after the rest.

Lord, shine through me despite my weakness.