Encouragement

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We celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ, the Son of Living God, on Christmas. The greatest gift we can give to God is to submit ourselves to Him and let Him make His Word become flesh in our lives just like He did with Jesus (John 1:14).

The eternal purpose of God is to bring all things together in Christ (Ephesians 1:10). The purpose of God in our lives is to conform us to the image of Christ that He might be the firstborn among many brethren (Romans 8:29). Jesus is our elder brother and God wants His family to grow not only numerically, but inwardly into His likeness.

Being conformed to His image is a process by which we grow into the character of Christ in our thinking, feelings and actions. His love, joy, peace, long temper, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness and self control actually become so integrated into our personalities that He lives in us and through us (Galatians 5:22-23).

Here are seven are steps that God, our Father, desires from us so that we may be conformed to the image of His Son:

1) Receive and welcome Him (John 1:14-15).
2) Believe in our hearts and confess that Jesus is Lord (Romans 10:9-10).
3) Take up the cross and lose our lives for His sake (Luke 9:23-25).
4) Forsake all that we have (Luke 14:33).
5) Do not be conformed to this world, but be transformed (Romans 12:1-2).
6) Be renewed in the spirit of our minds (Ephesians 4:22-24).
7) Let God create the image of Christ in us (Matthew 22:26-40 & Romans 8:26-30).

This process of transformation into His image is best captured in the freedom a caterpillar experiences when it changes into a butterfly. The Greek word for transformation is metamorphao which we translate into the English word metamorphosis. It is a painful process, but look at how beautiful the butterfly becomes compared to its former state as a bug crawling on the ground. We were not designed to be worms crawling on our bellies as lowly creatures. God created us to soar with Him as He leads us into the destinies He has designed for us.

As we follow Jesus, we are called to die daily so that He might live through us. The pain of dying to ourselves is turned into the power of His resurrection as His life is manifested in us (Romans 6:1-8:39). God loves us and He wants us to experience freedom from the penalty and power of sin (Romans 6:23&14).

We are new creations (literally species) in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:17). We are the righteousness of God in Christ (2 Corinthians 5:21). We must have a self image that matches the way God wants us to think and feel about ourselves. Healthy parents want their children to have a strong, positive self image. We are God’s children. He loves us and wants to give us His richest and best blessings.

Testing, trials and temptations are designed by God to bring out the best in us. We are to consider them wholly joyful. We are called to let endurance and steadfastness and patience have full play and do a thorough work that we may be perfectly and fully developed (with no defects), lacking in nothing (James 1:2-8).

I encourage all of us to be salt and light this Christmas season (Matthew 5:13-14). Jesus came that we may have and enjoy life and have it in abundance, to the full, until it overflows (John 10:10)!


Copyright © 2005 Daniel W. Woodworth

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