Several years ago, my wife and I were privileged to take a trip to Israel. In preparation for the trip, I purchased a nice SLR camera to enable us to share slides of the Land of the Bible with our church family and friends back home. It was then I learned some of the basics of amateur photography. One of the first lessons was how to focus the camera properly on the subject, and then to hold it steadily so the subject would not be blurred in my picture. I learned quickly that when I failed in either of these fundamental principles, no matter what else I did, the image would be a poor representation of the place where Jesus ministered 2000 years ago.
After our trip, it dawned on me how my recent experience with the camera made a perfect analogy for presenting Christ to others in my day to day life. In my analogy Christ Himself is the subject upon which I must focus, and my life, like the film in my camera, if developed properly, will bear His image. “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son,… (Romans 8:29)”
The same two fundamental principles apply: Unless I keep Christ constantly in focus, and refuse to allow myself to become unstable (shaky), while I am being exposed to Him in my daily walk, my life will not become a clear representation of Christ. Also, in order for my character to be the perfect image of His character, the ungodliness that was part of my life before I met Christ must be put off, so that I can, “…put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created [me]: (Colossians 3:10)”
The process, therefore, must begin in my own mind and heart. Paul told the Roman believers, “I beseech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service. And be not conformed to this world: but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind, that ye may prove what is that good, and acceptable, and perfect, will of God. (Romans 12:1-2)” Paul encouraged the Philippians, “Let this mind be in you, which was also in Christ Jesus: (Philippians 2:5)”