The Process involved in becoming like Jesus.

(Author’s confession-The most effective teaching about Christ comes  from those who embody and model those truths. That acknowledged, I have written this article based on God’s Word and what I have learned thus far in my Christian life. In no way is it my intention to point you to me as an example as I am wholly inadequate. Christ is the peak, the summit, and the culmination of all we can aspire to.  I can only hope to one day be just like Him.)

One of the distinguishing marks of the converts of Christ is the way in which they view the events of their lives. To trust in the Lord and as a Christian sincerely profess, that regardless of what comes my way throughout my life I know God has either allowed it or designed it, and he is sovereign over all the occurrences of my life, speaks of a solid, strong, and stable Christian.

Solid because the way a believer comes to terms with trials, our behavior as we pass through them(and we will pass through them) very often reveals our spiritual condition.

Strong because trials-the heating up, the burning (1 Peter 4:12), the testing and proving (1 Peter 1:7) of our faith accomplishes a purer and stronger faith and Christian character.

And I use the word stable because younger Christians (and sometimes older ones who ought to be more mature in the faith) can tend to whine and complain about anything difficult or disagreeable that comes their way. As incongruous as it may sound, the twists and turns, the vicissitudes of life produce steady Christians.

As God’s children, we believe God is the Creator and Sustainer of everyone and everything. He is perfect in all of his attributes, and God is love. Because God is love he has provided a way for us to be saved from our sin and the misery it causes. We also understand according to the Bible that God has a wonderful plan for our lives: “For whom he did foreknow, he also did predestinate to be conformed to the image of his Son.”

God, in his loving plan of salvation, not only determined to save and forgive us, but that through salvation we would be the blessed recipients throughout our lives of his divine workmanship in purposing to make us like his Son, Jesus. Therefore, regardless of what comes our way we can always have the confidence that God is with us, for us, and at all times at work in our lives. Moreover, in the process he is continually working for our good.

We pray throughout our Christian lives to be people of faith.      Great faith. Unwavering faith. We know that faith comes from the Word of God. But there is another way by means of which strong faith is developed, and that is through great trials. Deep trials. Our friend Spurgeon once said:

“Trials teach us what we are; they dig up the soil and let us see what we are made of.” Yes indeed…

Last summer, after all of my years of attempting to raise a garden I finally succeeded-to the extent that by summer’s end I produced so much of a bumper crop of tomatoes, cucumbers and zucchinis, for weeks I was bringing baskets full to church to share with my good brothers and sisters…some of whom-right along with my own family– were laughing a little too hard in their complete astonishment at my success-(insert mortified emoji-the one with two dashes for the eyes and one for the mouth). And I believe the key to my success came through a little conversation I had one day with my good friend, Danielle. Danielle who, for years now, has produced gardens which rival the Royal Botanical Gardens in England. “It’s your soil, Liz,” she simply advised me one day. So I filled my little garden plot with hundreds of pounds-literally- of good, rich, organic soil-and voila! A garden that actually grew and produced wonderful fruit! Soil matters! You have to dig around and make sure it is not insufficient. The process of growing in faith, of having our faith increase is never easy. Why? Simply because true faith requires complete surrender to whatever may be God’s will for our lives and complete confidence in him throughout the process.

Interestingly, Jesus identified only two people in His earthly ministry who He said had great faith; a Roman centurion (Matthew 8:5–13)and a Canaanite woman (Matthew 15:21–28).The shared commonality between them was their great humility in their approach to Christ. Christ marveled at it. Matthew Henry said, “Great humility leads to great faith.”

God knows we are prone to be fearful and fretful creatures at times. Nevertheless, in God’s Word we are given examples of those who endured trying and terrifying trials and attained great faith through them. Great faith is so honoring to God. Fearfulness and the sense of being overwhelmed is always due to a loss of confidence in him. Alongside this, it is also the lack of believing that, should everything not go the way I planned-then God has a better plan. Without the belief that the events of our lives are in God’s hands life becomes a very fearful, uncertain existence, void of the comfort, direction and hope prayer accompanied by faith in God brings. You see, the object is not to understand the “whys” and “how comes” of all of the tests and tribulations. The purpose is that Christians grow in faith to the place where they rest in the indisputable fact that all the issues of their lives are under God’s control. He sees. He is watching, and he is always at work. And that is a place of peace, and comfort, and a source of great assurance for all of us as we wholeheartedly believe that “My loving heavenly Father, Who is concerned about the life cycle of a sparrow, cares much more about me than I really understand.” Amen.

So the process involved in becoming like our Lord is often trying, yet the Apostle Peter encourages us that the process is more precious than gold which perishes because God will receive glory from it!

James reminds us that the trial of our faith develops patience in us. Patience is steadfast endurance, waiting. (Did you know that waiting is a predominant principal and a spiritual discipline in the life of a Christian? It is referenced in 116 verses in God’s Word!)

I can only speak for myself but waiting is when the fretting comes. Waiting is hard. And you have to be incredibly careful in the process-no moves by you until God moves, for fear that you will dash off and make either an untimely decision or a disastrous one which could change the course of your life!

We need to mature in our faith in God by developing a strong and sound belief in each great truth of God’s Word, and a resolute adherence to them, especially in times of trial.  God considers the weight load before he allows trials and tests in our lives.  And He knows what we can manage. Now, often we do not think we can manage it-nevertheless, there is a conforming to the image of Christ for every genuine child of God, and aren’t we the better for it?

Thank you so much for reading!

Liz