The part I can’t wait for in every Fixer Upper episode is the reveal. It’s a highlight, but some even more amazing reveals are coming.
We are promised that one day Jesus will be revealed.
That’s something we should be excited about. In fact, we “eagerly wait for our Lord Jesus Christ to be revealed” (1 Corinthians 1:7), knowing that one day he will come “to be glorified in his holy people and to be marveled at among all those who have believed” (2 Thessalonians 1:10).
Man, it’s going to be so good! We will “be overjoyed when his glory is revealed” (1 Peter 4:13). You’ve got to love the reveal!
But Jesus is not the only one who will be revealed; you will.
That might sound strange, but it’s a major theme in the Bible. In fact, you know how I can’t wait for the end of Fixer Upper to see how the house was restored? Well, there is a rather large audience who feels the same way about you. “The creation waits in eager expectation for the children of God to be revealed” (Romans 8:19).
Why? Because you and I are being restored. “The Lord—who is the Spirit—makes us more and more like him as we are changed into his glorious image” (2 Corinthians 3:18, NLT). If you have surrendered yourself to the work of the master potter, if you are allowing him to, he is shaping and forming you.
Sometimes we get frustrated when the progress feels slow.
We may wonder whether God is really doing something and whether we’re ever going to be who we should be. But capture that thought and expose it as a lie, because your faith tells you that you can be “confident of this, that he who began a good work in you will carry it on to completion until the day of Christ Jesus” (Philippians 1:6).
The issue is that you haven’t seen the finished product yet.
Your mind is still filled with thoughts of what used to be. God is working, but it’s from the inside out, so most of what’s happening in you is happening beyond your watching eyes.
Dear friends, we are already God’s children, but he has not yet shown us what we will be like when Christ appears. But we do know that we will be like him, for we will see him as he really is. (1 John 3:2, NLT)
Hold on because it’s coming.
God encourages you to “set your hope on the grace to be brought to you when Jesus Christ is revealed at his coming” (1 Peter 1:13).
On that day, you will see him for who he is.
Not only that, but you will finally see you for who you are.
The day is coming! What will happen? “When Christ (who is your life) appears, then you too will be revealed in glory with him” (Colossians 3:4, NET).
Jesus will be revealed for who he is, and you will be revealed—in glory—for who you truly are, right along with him. You’ll discover that you have been restored to your original and intended glory. In fact, you’ll be better than restored; you’ll be better than you’ve ever been.
Wow.
You’ve got to love the reveal.
Jarrett Stephens is the senior pastor of Champion Forest Baptist Church, in Houston, Texas. He is the author of two books, The Always God and The Mountains Are Calling.
Excerpted from The Always God: He Hasn’t Changed and You Are Not Forgotten. Copyright © 2021 by Jarrett Stephens. Used by permission of Multnomah, an imprint of Penguin Random House LLC.