How does anything happen? It takes very little reflection to conclude that the world, and everything in it, is quite remarkable. How can a kernel of wheat germinate in the ground? How is a child knit together in the womb of his mother? How is it that a plant can feed on inanimate nutrients, and that a child can then feed on the plant, and grow into a mature man? How is it that, as the population grows, God turns inanimate chemicals into men and women who bear His image? We don’t know; the whole thing is beyond us.
It is the same here. How is it that by faith, we feed on the living Christ, and are being transformed daily, weekly, yearly, into increasing conformity to His image? Does the spiritual world grind away mechanically, blindly? Not a bit of it—no more than this happens in the material world.
The heavens and the earth are glorious mysteriously. We cannot pull away a certain number of layers, and find, there, under all the appearances, the way things really are. What you see around you is what God has given, and what God is doing.
Now, at this moment, what is that? What do you see around you? You see your brothers and sisters in Jesus. You see the body of Christ. You see His members. You see what is to Jesus Christ bone of His bone, and flesh of His flesh.
But you also see a work in progress. We are His body, but we are not yet without spot or wrinkle, or any such blemish. Sadly, there are many spots, wrinkles, and blemishes. What are we to do? We are to remember, in faith, that God deals with us here. He brings sin to the surface, in order to forgive it. He reveals rebellion, in order to expel it. He encourages the weary. He comforts the disconsolate. And He does not do this scientifically, or by some magic trick with the wine and bread. He does this by presenting Himself to us in the act of eating and drinking the wine and bread, and He summons us to invite how He deals with us in true and everlasting evangelical faith.