A lot has been said about the military might of Alexander the Great and his many conquests. What is scarce in literature is how jealous he was of his name and personality. This will be well illustrated from an article featured in UNFEIGNED FAITH. According to the report, a soldier in his army was brought for court-martial. The general asked the man his name to which he replied, “Alexander”. The general asked again for his name and the soldier replied as at the first time. Then angrily, the general asked the third time for the man’s name and got the same response, “Alexander”. Then came the verdict. The general said, “You say your name is Alexander? You are found guilty of your crime as charged, and you must pay the penalty. Either change your conduct or change your name, for no man can bear the name of Alexander, my name, and do the things that you have done”.

“The Holy Spirit is the agency by which we can have our conduct changed and be truly transformed to the image of Christ.”

I can find no better illustration for what we know of many Christians today. If we were to be arraigned, many will be found guilty as charged. The fact is, many carry the tag of Christianity but do things that does not represent Christ. Jesus would not want us to change our names from being Christians; He would rather want us to work on our conduct. Thankfully, we are not left to our own devices in this. The Holy Spirit is the agency by which we can have our conduct changed and be truly transformed to the image of Christ. That is what our text deals with. As we behold the glory of God in the word, the Holy Spirit does the outworking of the transformation until the beauty of Jesus is manifest to the world through us. So here again, we see that the Spirit is indispensable.