As a TBI survivor, I am deeply aware of what it means to live with an invisible, life-altering, injury. Depending your own life history, you may possess scars that are apparent to the naked eye. Or perhaps you’ve experienced trials that don’t manifest physically but still have wide-reaching emotional and spiritual effects. 2 Cor. 3:17-19 is a passage that God consistently uses to encourage me, and I pray it will be encouraging to you all as well!

“Now the Lord is the Spirit, and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is freedom. And we all, with unveiled face, beholding the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from one degree of glory to another. For this comes from the Lord who is the Spirit.”

            One result of my injury brain injury is that I struggle with hypothetical thinking. Whether or not you share a similar physical challenge, finding hope for today in the amazing future promises that the Apostle Paul lays out may feel difficult. How does the promise of future glory transform our daily experience in concrete ways?

            We begin by remembering God’s character never changes. (Malachi 3:6). Therefore, we can trust that His Word – and the promises it contains – are completely trustworthy and not subject to alteration. We also see God explicitly declaring that His Word expresses both His sovereignty and His foreknowledge in Isaiah 46:9-10: “I am God, and there is no other… declaring the end from the beginning and from ancient times things not yet done, saying, ‘My counsel shall stand, and I will accomplish all my purpose.'” Putting all these concepts together, we can trust that when God supernaturally inspired men to author Scripture, there were not any human conditions or events at any point in history that would occur outside of His sovereign plan or that His Word would not be sufficient for.

 From this foundation, we can move into the basic promise of 2 Cor. 3:17, which although a bit more abstract, is still relatively accessible. If we are believers, Paul is saying that we have all already received the Holy Spirit. If you notice what I am doing here, I am still dealing with facts that are either eternal (can be thought of as present tense) or took place in the past  (usually easier to conceptualize).

Next, we see that Paul says the Holy Spirit produces freedom in our lives. This is moving toward the conceptual, but is still relatively recognizable. That being said, we can make it more concrete by asking: What would I like to be rid of? Or, What would I like to be able to do? While we don’t know God’s plan for physical healing in everyone’s life, we do know that the Holy Spirit always gives believers the power to grow in knowing and loving Him and loving others (Matt. 22:37-39; 2 Peter 1:3-9). He wants us to get rid – be free – of attitudes, actions, and circumstances that hinder these goals. We should also seek out attitudes, actions, and circumstances that help us foster these goals. Freedom comes from being more aligned with God’s goals, which are always more concerned with our heart than our physical abilities – or deficits. 

While TBI often impacts emotional regulation, thus making certain aspects of loving God and others more difficult for me, Scripture tells us that no physiological calamity can touch our souls, and that God is in the process of renewing all of us. (Matt. 10:28; 2 Cor. 4:16). Although certain aspects of our sanctification may be more challenging depending on when we came to Christ, our cultural background, or even something like a physical limitation, we can be confident that it is still possible to grow in loving God and loving others. The more we submit to the work God wants to do in us through the power of His Word and His Holy Spirit, the more we will experience the “freedom” God promises us in 2 Cor. 3:17-19, whether or not we are able to imagine freedom as an abstract concept.

The same is true for the next promise – that we will be transformed “from one degree of glory to another.” This is the portion that has been the most challenging for me to conceptualize. Most of us can probably imagine concrete examples of beauty or pleasure, such as a kaleidoscopic sunset, or chocolate chip cookies baking, or the downy fur of your favorite puppy. “Glory” in a spiritual sense might be harder to call to mind in the same concrete way we do for beautiful or pleasurable earthly experiences. The good news is that no one knows for sure what heaven will be like, so those of us who have trouble visualizing what Paul is describing in 2 Corinthians 3 are in good company. What we do know for sure is that even now, everything God allows into our lives is conforming us “to the image of His Son” (Romans 8:29). When we get to Heaven, this transformation process will be completed. The Apostle John writes that “we shall be like Him, because we shall see Him as He is” (1 John 3:2). 

For me, putting this verse into practice has meant looking forward to seeing my Savior face-to-face and enjoying His presence completely free from the lingering remnants of sin. I can’t wait to possess a mind and body that are perfectly suited to both glorifying God and enjoying Him forever. It also means looking forward to sharing this experience with fellow believers in our perfected state, free from the limitations and sin that can make even the best relationships challenging.

In the present, I think this also means looking for ways to praise God for how we see Him increasing not just our ability to love Him and love others, but also how we see Him increasing these abilities in the lives of those around us. This daily sanctification is the downpayment of the glory we’ve been promised, and the more we grow in identifying and expressing gratitude for His Spirit’s work in our lives, the more we will grow in our ability to anticipate and hope in future glory. This daily gratitude also reminds us that God is keeping His promise to complete His good work in all of us, even we are going through a trial or His work seems more apparent at certain times than others.

I am far from doing any of these things well or consistently, but I am grateful for how God continues to use this passage to renew both my mind and heart. I pray that sharing a little bit if my journey with this 2 Cor. 3 has been encouraging for you, and that God will use these verses to bring vivid hope for whatever you may be going through. We can trust that His promises never fail!