As we travel on our ongoing journey with Christ Jesus, the question may be asked of ourselves, what is my purpose, why am I here? There is a clarity in God’s word that answers that. It supercedes the many answers that man will bring. Although they are relevant, the greater (God’s answer), includes the lesser (man’s answer).
Romans 8: 28-29 “And we know that all things work together for good to those who love God, to those who are the called according to HIS PURPOSE. For whom He did foreknow, He also did predestinate TO BE CONFORMED TO THE IMAGE OF HIS SON”. There we have our answer to why am I here?…..To be conformed to the image of God’s Son.
Ephesians 4: 13-15 validates in agreement with the former, speaking of the Body of Believers:”Till we all come in the unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of the STATURE OF THE FULLNESS OF CHRIST. That we henceforth be no more children, tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine, by the sleight of men and cunning craftiness, whereby they lie in wait to deceive. But speaking the truth in love, may GROW UP INTO HIM IN ALL THINGS, who is the Head, even Christ”.
The apostle, Paul, fathered and mentored many young men in the faith. He reprimanded the Galatians for backsliding into the legalism of the law again, after Christ’s victory on Calvary had freed them from the bondage of it. Galatians 5:1 “Stand fast therefore in the liberty wherewith Christ has made us free, and do not be entangled again with the yoke of bondage”. The law is the schoolmaster that brings us to Christ, but it will never form Christ in us. The incremental deposit of the fullness of Christ will be formed in us as we choose a daily walk of surrender in humility with Him. It is a daily dying to self, refusing to judge my fellow men, preferring others first, refusing sense knowledge (eating from the tree of the knowledge of good and evil), that allows the life of Christ to flow unhindered. Only Christ can live that life in you and me. As we die, He lives! As we go out, He comes in. Christ in you, the hope of glory!
Galatians 2: 19-21 “……that I might live to God. I am crucified with Christ, nevertheless I live, yet not I, but Christ lives in me, and the life I now live in the flesh, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me and gave Himself for me. I do not frustrate the grace of God, for if righteousness comes by the law, then Christ is dead in vain”.
The vision for my life is to be conformed to the image of God’s Son. As I keep my eyes on Him, I know that everything He permits in my life will confirm this. God has a grid. Only what He permits will filter through and serve, in the trial, to establish another measure of the fullness of Christ being formed in me, all to God’s glory, never mine.
What is your measuring stick? Do you have one? Do I realise that God has a divine measuring stick. God measures us according to the stature of the fullness of His Son. When He sees His Son operating in me, then He is well pleased. The Cross, and all that is represented in resurrection life, should be our standard. None of us have arrived, we are all a work in progress, but let us not hold up the work with our pride and self righteousness.
With a godly perspective I do not chase after miracles, (but always expect them), but have a restful understanding of the trials of life. In every trial God is working to marry the heavenly with the earthly to bring forth the image of the Son in each of us.
A simple chorus comes to mind, but has a profound note:
“Not my will, but Thine be done, that the fullness of the Son
Will live inside this life that You have given me.
Until everything I do, becomes the thing that pleases you,
Abba Father, I would be a son indeed”.
Photo by Afif Ramdhasuma on Unsplash