«　WEEK 2　DAY 5　»

　　2 Cor. 3:18 But we all with unveiled face, beholding and reflecting like a mirror the glory of the Lord, are being transformed into the same image from glory to glory, even as from the Lord Spirit.

　　 4:16 Therefore we do not lose heart; but though our outer man is decaying, yet our inner man is being renewed day by day.

　　Transformation is not an outward change or correction but the metabolic function of the life of God in the believers. Transformation is not to make some corrections from without; it is the function of metabolism from within and is manifested without. This is expressed in a line of the new hymn for this conference: “Manifesting the metabolism in life.”

　　Suppose a person is undernourished and appears thin and sickly. He cannot improve by merely applying some powder to his face. Rather, he needs to be supplemented with nutrition; then his physical condition will improve and his facial color will spontaneously become rosy. Luke 15 tells us that when the prodigal son returned home, he had a robe put on him for his covering, yet he still appeared thin and sickly. Merely to have the robe was not sufficient; he still needed to eat the fattened calf for several days. When metabolism began to work in him, he would naturally become strong and his facial color would look pretty. Thus, the beauty that comes by applying powder is not genuine beauty; only that which is expressed outwardly through the inward metabolism is genuine health and real beauty.

　　If the believers are willing to grow in the divine life, the element of the divine life will increase in them and bring forth a metabolic change. Thus, their inward disposition will be transformed, and their outward image will also be transformed to be the same as the image of the Lord. This is not moral cultivation by examining oneself and mending one's ways as taught by Confucianism in China. That is man's own moral cultivation. When we are transformed into the image of the Lord by beholding Him, this is not the result of our self-cultivation, but it is the Lord Spirit, the life-giving Spirit whom the Lord Christ became in His resurrection, who moves within us to bring forth a metabolic change through the increase of the element of the divine life in us (2 Cor. 3:18). This is altogether a transformation brought forth by the moving and working of the Lord Spirit and the divine life within us.

　　Suppose you and another brother live together. Every day that brother has morning revival, prays, reads the Bible, and meditates on the Lord's word. After a period of time, you will surely notice some transformation in him. I am usually awake early in the morning at four or five o'clock, and I just muse on the Lord's word. Then the Holy Spirit comes, and the light comes. When I touch Christ as the Spirit, His element comes into me and it issues in a metabolic function in me. This is similar to the metabolism in our body. After we eat some proper food and receive some proper element into us, the elements of the food become our element through digestion and assimilation so that we look so radiant and so energetic. If you touch the Lord day by day and allow His element to come into you, metabolism will spontaneously transpire in you that you may be transformed and eventually be like the Lord.

　　Transformation Requiring the Believers' Outer Man to be Decaying that Their Inner Man may be Renewed Day by Day

　　Eventually, transformation requires the believers' outer man to be decaying (consumed) that their inner man may be renewed day by day (2 Cor. 4:16). This does not require us to do it ourselves; instead, the Lord is working in our environment to consume our outer man. When the outer man is being consumed, decaying, the inner man is renewed day by day. God always gives us the most suitable spouse for our marriage. When a young person begins to choose a spouse, he puts forth much effort and follows many principles. After a great deal of consideration, eventually he chooses someone. Although the people around him do not agree with his choice, little do they know that it is God's arrangement. After the two are married, they begin to deal with each other even from the very first night. One cannot sleep without the windows open, whereas the other catches a cold whenever the windows are open. When the discussion yields no solution, the two begin to quarrel. This is the mutual consuming between husband and wife. The more the husband is consumed by the wife, the more spiritual he becomes. The same is true in the church life. When several people serve in coordination, there is always someone who has a tough personality that is unbearable. Even so, you should not lose your temper, so you have to endure, sometimes even to the point of becoming ill. The Lord arranges this kind of situation that our outer man may be decaying so that our inner man may be renewed. In this way we are transformed.