"Do Not Be Conformed To This World But Be Transformed" (Romans 12:2)
This reality seems distant as we are traversing the valley of the shadow of death. What we need is to come away to a higher existence, to be in the presence of God in prayer. When we are in prayer, as Jesus was, the divine glorious form will shine on us. Here we shall hear the voice of God leading us to what we are called to be and to do. We shall grow towards the divine, glorious form destined for us! We shall truly experience the splendour of our Christian faith as children of God. And for this transformation to take over, we need sufficient Mount Tabor experiences. Every time we step aside from the routine of our daily troubles and wait in prayer for His revelation, His glory shall overwhelm us and we will be lost in the experience of His compassion.

"When anything is exposed by the light it becomes visible, for anything that becomes visible is light." (Ephesians 5:13) When we are thus exposed to the radiant glory of God, we too shall be consumed, for "our God is a consuming fire". (Hebrews 12:29) We have a higher existence, a glorious form awaiting us and we should conform our lives accordingly as "children of light". (Ephesians 5:9) 

Recently I met a lawyer who had come to make the retreat. His experience of God at the retreat, he said, now had radically changed even how he saw himself. He was thriving in his profession. He counted life by the standards of his profession. When he would win a case, he felt great about himself. But when he failed in a case, he felt worthless and miserable and struggled to come out of this by waiting for another success. He was nothing more than his profession. But during the retreat, as He listened to the Word preached, he experienced how great his God was. He wanted to live his life for God. This was his consuming desire – to live for the glory of God. And now he shared that his mission was clear to him. He had to go back to his family and his profession, of course. But things could never be the same. His profession would not govern his person. His mission would govern his profession. His legal profession was not to establish his worth by giving him success. But he was now to work for his mission of justice, ushering in God’s kingdom into individual lives and society at large. He was a missionary for God and all he possessed, including his profession, was to spread the radiance of God’s glory on all those struggling under the unjust structures of society.

He was no longer conformed to the limited human standards. His vision was not confined to being a successful legal professional. He was putting on the mantle of the eternal by living for the glory of God.

"Put On the Lord Jesus Christ" (Romans 13:14)
In our daily lives, we have this invitation to live out the Transfiguration promise for us. When our relationships fail, we as limited human beings get hurt and tend to react. But when we remember that we are more than mere humans and that we are children of God, we realize we must rise above instinctual reactions and radiate the glorious goodness of God. To accomplish this, we must come away to a lonely place and pray. Then the glorious form of the child of God will manifest itself. We will hear the voice of the Father confirming us, "You are my beloved child, and in you I am well pleased." The pain of the hurt will be taken away and the base urge to retaliate will be quenched. And then we shall be able to respond to that person as Jesus responded prayerfully, "Forgive them; for they know not what they do." (Luke 23:34) We receive the divine power of forgiveness! 

There may be moments we commit sin. The natural human reaction is to become guilty and depressed. At such moments we must come away to be with God and offer that sin to the Lord. In repentance, tears shall flow down washing the sin away as we pray, "Father God, I know you will forgive me." At this moment, the divine form will surface. I will hear the voice of the Lord telling me, "I do not condemn you; go, and do not sin again." (John 8:11)

We need to find time for this transfiguration to happen in our lives. Unfortunately we are very busy. In fact we are too busy to be happy. We are too busy to pray. And being too busy to pray means we are too busy to be happy. And that is the reason why our life stagnates in the cesspool of boredom, sadness and bitterness. 

The Lord is waiting to manifest His glorious form to us. In such ecstatic moments of glory, we will know life is beautiful. The beauty of life is offered to us here on this mountain, when we come away to a lonely place to pray. In our homes, there should be a sacred space where we go with the Word of God to pray – offering all the tears and failures and the exhaustion of the day, waiting to see the face of God and to hear His voice. As we wonder at the glorious proclamation of Peter on the holy mountain, we take this decision and promise the Lord to commit ourselves to life, to happiness and to prayer!