In 2 Cor. 3:18 we find true
Christian growth in grace. First, Christ has to be revealed to the soul, and
then as you go on day after day, as you are occupied with Christ, you become
like Him. You never have to advertise your holiness. This will not be necessary
if your heart is taken up with the Lord Jesus. If occupied with Him, other
people will soon realize that you are becoming more and more like Him as the
days go by.

You may have heard of Nathaniel
Hawthorne’s story of ‘The Great Stone Face." He tells of a lad who lived in
the village below the mountain, and there upon the mountain was that image of
the great stone face, looking down so solemnly, so seriously, upon the people.
There was a legend that some day someone was coming to that village who would
look just like the great stone face, and he would do some wonderful things for
the village and would be the means of great blessing. The story gripped this
lad, and he used to slip away and hour after hour would stand looking at that
great stone face and thinking of the story about the one who was coming.  Years
passed, and even through young adulthood and middle age he still went to sit
and contemplate the majesty, the beauty of that great stone face.  Then old age
came, and one day as he walked through the village someone looked at him and
exclaimed, “He has come, the one who is like the great stone face!”  He became
like that which he contemplated.  If you want to be like Christ, look at
Jesus.  If you want to grow in grace, contemplate Jesus.  You find Him revealed
in the Word, so read your Bible and meditate upon it.

We sing the song, “Take time to
be holy, Speak oft with thy Lord.”  One servant of the Lord always interrupted
when this hymn was given out and said, “Please let me change that first line;
let us sing it, ‘Take time to behold Him.’” As we behold Hm we will become
holy, for we will be transformed into the same image form glory to glory .

(From Addresses on the Second
Epistle to the Corinthians. Used by permission of Loizeaux Brothers, Inc., Neptune, New Jersey.)