More Like Jesus

09/21/12 More Like Jesus (part 3) 1 Corinthians 15:49 49 And as we have borne the image of the man of dust, we shall also bear the image of the heavenly Man. For the last two days I have been writing on what it means to be conformed to the image of Christ. Permit me to say a little more on this awesome truth. The precious gift of Christ-likeness is not something we earn or work for. It is a work of God that He not only does in us but He does it with us. How does God work with us? He empowers us to obey. For instance: 2 Peter 1:3-4 says, His divine power has given to us all things that pertain to life and godliness, through the knowledge of Him who called us by glory and virtue, 4 by which have been given to us exceedingly great and precious promises, that through these you may be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. The promise we are thinking about is conformity to Jesus:. We shall bear the image of heavenly Man. This requires us to live by faith. We believe God will do as he has promised. As the Holy Spirit works in us we become partakers of the divine nature and that is Christ-likeness! The word ‘partake’ means to partner with, a companion, fellowship, or share things together. (Some of you may be familiar with the Greek word – koinonos.) We partake of God’s divine nature which includes His power and everything else we need as he conforms us to “the image of the heavenly Man.” This ‘divine nature’ enables us to express on the outside what God is doing on the inside. We begin to see others as God sees them and treat them as Jesus Himself would. In fact when you are living by faith the Spirit of Christ is doing His work through you. It is no longer you that lives your life; Christ lives His life through you. (Gal.2:20) Do others see your Christ-likeness? Do you seek to think of others the way Jesus thinks of them? Is the Lord Jesus living His life not just in you , but through you? Prayer: Father, do what you need to do in me so that when others hear what I speak and see what I do they will glorify my Lord Jesus. In His precious name amen.