Exodus 34:29-30 And it came to pass, when Moses came down from Mount Sinai with the two tables of testimony in Moses’ hand, when he came down from the mount, that Moses did not know that the skin of his face shone while he talked with him. And when Aaron and all the children of Israel saw Moses, behold, the skin of his face shone; and they were afraid to come nigh him.
The reflected glory from being in very presence of the glory of God is Moses’ response to receiving holiness and love from the living God. The skin of his face shone. This response was not an action that he consciously chose to do. By the grace of God it happened, and the shining was God’s message to the people that something really big and important has taken place.
The principle of reflecting God is the same for us. We also reflect God in our lives and on our faces as the image of God is being restored in baptized believers. It comes out of us after we have heard or read the Gospel, which is like being in the presence of a holy and loving God. We cannot deliberately just decide that our skin is going to shine; we can’t say, “I’m going to reflect God today.” We just do, after we have heard the Gospel, been with Jesus, touched by the Spirit, and strengthened through the Word.
We, like Moses, are not aware of our face glowing and our eyes shining, and we can’t make it happen through human effort or forcing a smile or putting on make-up. It is something that the Spirit works in us and out of us through the Word of Grace. Thank God: “It is God who works in you, both to will and to work for his good pleasure [Philippians 2:13].”
So what do we do? We sit back, listen to Jesus, and then go about our day enjoying Him, while Jesus “makes His face shine upon you.”