Capture the image of Christ

2 Cor. 4:4 says, “In whom the god of this age has blinded the thoughts of the unbelievers that the illumination of the gospel of the glory of Christ, who is the image of God, might not shine on them.” The god of this age has blinded not the will, emotion, or conscience, but the thoughts, the mind. Then 4:6 says, “Because the God who said, Out of darkness light shall shine, is the One who shined in our hearts to illuminate the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ.” By these two verses we know that God shines in our heart through our mind. We may compare ourselves to a camera, our mind to the lens, and our heart to the film; in addition, Christ is the figure before the camera and God is the light. The light from the figure (Christ) comes to the film (our heart) firstly through the lens (our mind).

(from Ch 9 of "Practical Lessons on the Experience of Life" )

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Our heart has four parts: mind, will, emotion, and conscience. When God comes to deal with us in our heart, what part does He touch first? The first message of the gospel of the New Testament, is “repent” (Matt. 3:2) - change the mind. We have to change our mind - turn our mind to God. In God’s dealing with us, the first thing within us that He touches is the mind. He enlightens the mind.

Second, God touches our emotion. If people had no emotion, no one could be saved. To be saved is truly an emotional matter. May the Lord stir us up to love Him.

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Third, God touches the conscience. As God shines, we see who Christ is. In addition, our real condition is exposed. "But now my eye has seen You; therefore I abhor myself and I repent in dust and ashes," (Job 42:5-6)

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When the mind is enlightened, the emotion is stirred up, and the conscience is convicted, we need to make the decision to follow the Lord. This decision is the exercise of the will, which is the last step. When the heart is hardened, what part of it is hardened? It is the will. To harden the heart is to be stubborn in the will.

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If we deal with our mind, emotion, conscience, and will, we will have a proper heart, a useful entrance for God. We will allow Him to have the ground and the way to deal with us in a proper way. Then we will have the Triune God within us as life and the anointing. This requires our cooperation. Let's put all this into practice to afford God the ground and the way to duplicate Christ in us, making us the same as He is in life, in nature, in function, and in expression.