Thursday Day #22 Created to Become Like Christ

"You were created to become like Christ.

This is your destiny and the third purpose of your life. God announced this intention at creation; "Then God said 'Let us make human beings in our image and likeness,'"

Like God, we are spiritual beings-our spirits are immortal and will outlast our earthly bodies.
We are intellectual-we can think, reason and solve problems.
We are relational-we can give and receive love.
We have a moral consciousness-we can discern right from wrong.

Like father, like son. "You were...created to be like god, truly righteous and holy"

"Take on an entirely new way of life-a God fashioned life, a life renewed from the inside and working itself into your conduct as God accurately reproduces his character in you.

God's ultimate goal for your life on earth is not comfort, but character development. He wants you to grow up spiritually and become like Christ. Every time you forget that character is one of God's purposes for your life, you will become frustrated by your circumstances. Life is supposed to be difficult. It's what enables us to grow.

Never forget that life is not about you.

God gives us our time on earth to build and strengthen our character for heaven.

"As the Spirit of the Lord works within us, we become more and more like him and reflect his glory even more." this process of changing us to be more like Jesus is called sanctification and is the third purpose of your life on earth.

Only the Holy Spirit has the power to make the changes God wants to make in our lives.

Most of the time the Holy Spirit's power is released in your life in quiet, unassuming ways that you aren't even aware of or can't feel. He often nudges us with a gentle whisper. How does this happen in real life? Through the choices we make.

The Holy Spirit releases his power the moment you take a step of faith. Move ahead in your weakness, doing the right thing in spite of of your fears and feelings.

While effort has nothing o do with your salvation, it has much to do with your spiritual growth.

First, we must choose to let go of old ways of acting. Second, we must change the way we think. third, we must "put on" the character of Christ.

Your character is essentially the sum of your habits.

God uses his Word, people, and circumstances to mold us. All three are indispensable for character development. God's Word provides the truth we need to grow. God's people provide the support we need to grow and circumstances provide the environment we need to practice Christlikeness.

Becoming like Christ is a long, slow process of growth.

God is far more interested in building your character than he is in anything else.

God is far more interested in what you are than what you do.

"Don't become so well-adjusted to your culture that you fit into it without even thinking. Instead, fix your attention on God. You'll be changed from the inside out...Unlike the culture around you, always dragging you down to its level of immaturity, God brings the best out of you, develops well-formed maturity in you"

Jesus did not die on the cross just so we could live comfortably." PDL Chapter 22

We were created to become like Christ and God leads us on that path with his Word, people and circumstances. The first two are easy for me to see. The third, I see in a whole new light. When God seems absent, he is watching to see what I will do. Everything in my daily life is either bringing me closer to God, because I did what pleases God, or is a challenge, designed to help build my character and help me gain insight and make better choices the next time. This makes getting stuck in traffic, getting poor service, or loosing a job, etc, etc, take on a whole new perspective. It's not about me, it's about how Christ-like I can be.