How to be conformed into the image of Christ

So if you are a Christian, this topic should interest you.  How much?  More than your "dreams."  More than raising your family.  More than your career.  More than anything and anyone in your life - this should be your main purpose in life.

Oh to be sure, He uses all of the above-mentioned parts of life.  But how?

It is a process.  There are no "three easy steps" that I know of to get this done.  But there are ways of being - attitudes - that help the process along.

Christ does the work in us.  But if we don't let Him or cooperate with Him or obey Him in everything - yes, everything - then we will not be conformed into His image the way He has in mind for us.

For me, it's always in the hard times.  The trials and tests of life have a way of whittling away the sharp edges in our souls.  This hurts.  I mean if a slab of marble could feel when the sculptor chisels away at it, I don't think it would be enjoying it!

I believe it is such a painful process for all of us because none of us comes into this world already like Jesus.  None of us.

So He's got His work cut out for Him!

Each time we submit to His will, a chunk of our flesh nature is chiseled off.

Each time we choose rightly instead of asserting our own will, we are being conformed.

Each time we choose to forgive, knowing that our offender doesn't "deserve" such grace, we are conformed to the image of Christ who is the King of forgiveness.

Each time we respond in love instead of any other way, we are being conformed to His image.

Don't think you have any rough edges left in you?  Hmmm.  I guess you are the only one out of 8 billion of us who has "arrived" then.  

But for the rest of us, the chiseling will continue until Christ returns or we breathe our last.

Why would anyone subject herself to this difficult process?  Because when you know your calling and don't do it, you are more miserable than when you just bite the bullet and do the calling, no matter how painful.  

And this is our calling, friends.  To let Jesus conform us into His image.  

Maybe you check all the right boxes.  You have your daily quiet time.  You attend church regularly; even tithe.  You study the Bible.  You know and do the "good Christian" checklist.

But you can do all of these things and still not let God conform you into the image of His Son.

That's a whole different ballgame.  

Here's a scenario.  You had your quiet time.  You're feeling good, very spiritual.  Then, not five minutes into your daily commute, you're flipping the bird to the guy who just cut you off.  Never happened to you?  Then trust me, you have other "buttons" that the devil is going to push to get you right out of the Spirit.

Maybe it's that family member who gets under your skin.  Or that co-worker.  Or your boss.  Or your problem child.  Or fill-in-the-blank.  

If you are truly pursuing Christ with all of your heart, it's not a matter of if you are in a spiritual battle.  You are!  It's a matter of which battle the Lord allows in your life for His purposes.  How intense the battle is also up to Him.

I believe God's motto for us in the sanctification process is, "Whatever it takes!"  Oy.

So whatever it takes to conform us into the image of Christ, that is what happens when we are truly on board with all of this.

To be sure, you will want to cry out, "Stop the world!  I want to get off!" a lot during this process.  Jesus did not promise us a rose garden.  He did promise us trouble.  But in the next breath, He tells us that He has overcome the world with all its troubles!  And He lives inside of us, ergo, we overcome, too! (John 16:33)

We don't have to worry too much about "applying" what we are learning.  (I can see Jesus laughing as I type these words!)  The Lord will see to it that we have plenty of opportunities to let His Word (what we're learning from His Word) play out through us.  When we are truly surrendered to Him and submitted or yielded to Him, the application simply happens without our giving it any thought to it at all.  This, of course, is the ideal!

So ask yourself if you really want to be like Jesus.  Because if you do, you are in for some hard times, friends.  How do I know?  It's the hard times that refine us and do most of the conforming work in us.  

Yes, it it hard.  You will be mocked, laughed at, misunderstood, and even persecuted for it.  This on top of the actual painful process of being conformed!  But this life ain't the end all, remember?  We're all in training for eternity!

Let's let God do this work in us no matter how painful so that He may be glorified and so that we will live out our highest and truest calling.

Oh God.  Even as I type these words my flesh repels them!  Help me remember that any trial that You let last longer than I would like has a higher purpose behind it - to conform  me into Your image.  Let every "thorn in my flesh" do the work for which You sent it.  In Jesus' Name.  Amen.