Basic Preparation for Transformation
Week 4, Email 1, Monday
Week 4, Email 1, Monday
Blueprint for Becoming Like Jesus
We should be spending considerable effort to prepare ourselves for heaven. Life in this sinful world, which is but for a brief moment, should be a critical time for us to prepare for that glorious, unending life that begins with our body’s death. How, then, should we be spending our time now? How do we prepare for the best life in heaven?
We do so by becoming more and more like Jesus. We have been brought into God’s kingdom to become like him.
And we, who with unveiled faces all reflect the Lord's glory,
are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory,
which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
2 Cor 3:18
are being transformed into his likeness with ever-increasing glory,
which comes from the Lord, who is the Spirit.
2 Cor 3:18
But how do we do that?
We fully cooperate with the Holy Spirit and let God the Potter shape us into the image of His Son. And, we start by thinking about the character of Jesus.
We fully cooperate with the Holy Spirit and let God the Potter shape us into the image of His Son. And, we start by thinking about the character of Jesus.
Let us fix our eyes on Jesus, the author and perfecter of our faith, . . .
Hebrews 12:2
Hebrews 12:2
Jesus began our transformation by giving us spiritual life through his substitutionary death. He perfects our faith when we look at Him long and hard enough to become more and more like Him. If we can learn how Jesus loved his disciples day by day on the roads of Israel, then we will know what loving character we want. We will find out the specifics of how Jesus wants us to be like Him in our inner circle of Christian friends and relatives through the Togethers of Scripture.
Thus, the Togethers can be a blueprint for changing into the image of Jesus Christ. In commanding us to love one another in our closest Christian relationships as He had loved his disciples (John 13:34), Jesus also showed us the way to become like Him.
Thus, knowledge about and practice of the Togethers should consume us. Every Christian needs to find time to put them into practice, within all contexts and especially with his or her closest Christian friends and relatives. Without this, we will only know about the character of Jesus, not truly become more and more like Him.
There is so much in our character that needs to change. We must avoid thinking that we are presently very much like Jesus. It would be unfortunate to go to heaven with minimal likeness to our Lord, unaware of our shortcomings. We must spend the rest of our days letting the Holy Spirit change us more and more by revealing Christ’s superiority.
When we examine each of the 65 Togethers, we need humility. Before we say to ourselves, “I do that!”, we need to ask, “Do I do this to the extent Jesus did?”
We Christians too often assure ourselves that we are “not all that bad” because we compare ourselves to those outside of the faith, those who are not empowered by the Spirit of God. Or we compare ourselves to other believers.
Rather than assure ourselves that we are doing okay, let us embrace that God’s grace is special to us particularly because we are not okay. Being “not okay” is not dangerous because the penalty for being “not okay” has already been paid.
If we are to grow spiritually, if we are to really prepare for heaven, then we need to compare ourselves only to Jesus. All our righteousness is like filthy rags (Isaiah 64:6) because every thing we do comes short of the perfect mark of Jesus. That is why He is the Teacher. That is why He is the Master. He is just plain better. And, if we are smart, we will want to be becoming more and more like Him, even though we will never reach his perfection in anything.
I have been crucified with Christ, and I no longer live,
but Christ lives in me.
Gal 4:20
but Christ lives in me.
Gal 4:20
Every time we become a little bit more like Jesus, He lives in us a little more. If we could bring into our lives all of Jesus – His full knowledge of everything physical and spiritual, His way of thinking, and His way of behaving – then we would be full of Christ. We are not going to know the deeper mysteries that God knows, but we can adopt in incremental measures the thinking and behaviors of Jesus.
For that we need a blueprint. The Togethers of Scripture will help us greatly to behave more and more like Jesus. Growth in each Together will require thinking and behaving more and more like Jesus.
Let us take one of the Togethers – bear with one another – and use it as an example. The verses this Together is drawn from are Rom 15:1, Eph 4:2, Col 3:13, Heb 13:1 and James 5:9. We define it as “Put up with one another and be gracious, since we are all great sinners.”
In bearing with other Christians, we do not react to their objectionable behavior by rejecting or judging them. Nor do we let their behavior take away our peace and security in Christ. Often we have to also forgive them as Colossians 3:13 commands, “bear with each other and forgive”.
God puts up with us and our waywardness many times every day. Jesus put up with his disciples’ lack of understanding and Peter’s denial on the way to the crucifixion. We should want to walk through the gates of heaven as much like Jesus in bearing with others who irritate us, really make us mad, let us down, or simply seem silly.
First of all, we must not foolishly think that we do this Together acceptably – at least not very well. Sure, we can think of some people we put up with without judging them or avoiding them. Good for us – a great start. But, let’s not give ourselves a good grade at bearing with one another. Contrasting ourselves with Jesus, we should realize we have quite a way to go.
No problem. We can grow in Christ-likeness. We can purposely seek to identify kinds of people we do not put up with, who irritate us or we write them off as not important. And, in prayer and Bible study we can change our thinking about them until, in our minds and actions, we no longer reject or avoid or judge them, only their thinking and behavior, but not them as people.
Perhaps there is an ex-brother-in-law who treated our sister very badly. And, we see him every time one of our nieces or nephews has a school function we attend. Jesus would put up with him, not let him affect his feelings and ruin the event, and maybe even greet him politely. Not easy, but possible when we work at bringing Jesus and his ways into our lives, being crucified with Christ and having Him live in us.
To bring forth the very nature of Christ in us, there is tremendous need for increased involvement with people, primarily other Christians. Christian relationships guided by obedience to those Scriptures that are represented by the Togethers are the means of significant change into the likeness of Jesus Christ.
In this way, the Togethers can be the blueprint for becoming like our Lord. And, becoming like Jesus is the best way to prepare for heaven.
For that we need a blueprint. The Togethers of Scripture will help us greatly to behave more and more like Jesus. Growth in each Together will require thinking and behaving more and more like Jesus.
Let us take one of the Togethers – bear with one another – and use it as an example. The verses this Together is drawn from are Rom 15:1, Eph 4:2, Col 3:13, Heb 13:1 and James 5:9. We define it as “Put up with one another and be gracious, since we are all great sinners.”
In bearing with other Christians, we do not react to their objectionable behavior by rejecting or judging them. Nor do we let their behavior take away our peace and security in Christ. Often we have to also forgive them as Colossians 3:13 commands, “bear with each other and forgive”.
God puts up with us and our waywardness many times every day. Jesus put up with his disciples’ lack of understanding and Peter’s denial on the way to the crucifixion. We should want to walk through the gates of heaven as much like Jesus in bearing with others who irritate us, really make us mad, let us down, or simply seem silly.
First of all, we must not foolishly think that we do this Together acceptably – at least not very well. Sure, we can think of some people we put up with without judging them or avoiding them. Good for us – a great start. But, let’s not give ourselves a good grade at bearing with one another. Contrasting ourselves with Jesus, we should realize we have quite a way to go.
No problem. We can grow in Christ-likeness. We can purposely seek to identify kinds of people we do not put up with, who irritate us or we write them off as not important. And, in prayer and Bible study we can change our thinking about them until, in our minds and actions, we no longer reject or avoid or judge them, only their thinking and behavior, but not them as people.
Perhaps there is an ex-brother-in-law who treated our sister very badly. And, we see him every time one of our nieces or nephews has a school function we attend. Jesus would put up with him, not let him affect his feelings and ruin the event, and maybe even greet him politely. Not easy, but possible when we work at bringing Jesus and his ways into our lives, being crucified with Christ and having Him live in us.
To bring forth the very nature of Christ in us, there is tremendous need for increased involvement with people, primarily other Christians. Christian relationships guided by obedience to those Scriptures that are represented by the Togethers are the means of significant change into the likeness of Jesus Christ.
In this way, the Togethers can be the blueprint for becoming like our Lord. And, becoming like Jesus is the best way to prepare for heaven.