The Beginning And The End

October 2007

I have already written about two of the eight keys to spiritual transformation.  In a nutshell I said that spiritual transformation is the action of the Holy Spirit in us to make us more and more like Christ. I also said that our spiritual growth depends on our participation. We have a hand in the shaping of our souls. Putting our hand in the hand of the One who shapes us will result in the transformation of our character.

This month I address keys three and four. Key Three: God shapes our character with his own end in mind. Key Four: This end is nothing less and certainly nothing more than conformity to the image of Jesus Christ. A tall order (I know where I need to be). A divine task (I know God can do it). Sobering! Heartening!

God has a master plan of his own making. It is not makeshift. It is a grand design that has existed from eternity. In the design of God belongs this movement: Creation, corruption, redemption, and re-creation. God creates to express his love. He deals with corruption to show mercy and grant hope. He redeems for fellowship. He re-creates according to an original design. This design is never changing. Whatever God does in the human arena always reflects his character. He means to reshape our souls into the likeness of his Son. Nowhere is this stated more clearly than in Romans 8:29; Galatians 4:19; and 2 Corinthians 3:18. These Scriptures are worth any amount of time of reflection you can spend on them.

When God created, the glory he gave us was resemblance to himself. His eternal unity (solidarity of character and essence) with God the Son and God the Holy Spirit guided his design process. He laid the glory of his character over the dust of the ground and he cut humanity in his own shape. Now God re-creates us according to the image of his Son. Two names we can give this re-creation are godliness and love, two words characteristic of Christ.

Dear reader, who are you becoming like? Not too long ago I made a sudden move which put me face to face with a mirror at the end of the hall in my house. What struck me was the first impression I received from this sudden seeing of myself in the mirror. I noticed that I looked like and walked like my uncle. I was puzzled. I am not aware that I am intentionally imitating the way my uncle walks. But the fact is I am. The mirror of the Christian character is the living Word of God written and creating. I long for that day, when I look into the Word, I would see my image and the image of Christ as one.

Permit me another question directed to the community of faith to which each of us belongs: Is training to be conformed to the image of God’s Son our reason for being? Some give priority to evangelism or church planting as our reasons for being. Honestly, I don’t find these tasks grand enough. I believe we need something larger than even these. I also believe that imitation of Christ is inclusive of these. Any denomination must ask the questions of evangelism and church planting but not to the neglect of the questions about living in conformity to the image of Christ? Is all that we do as church leaders geared toward becoming like Jesus Christ in our heart, mind, soul, body, and relationships (the components of our character)? The re-creation of the character of Christ in all followers of Christ is the primary goal for every body of Christ.

We spend time, dollars, and effort designing new church structures, new and relevant church functions and ministries, new music, new technologies, and new evangelism strategies. We hope (perhaps it is wishful thinking!) the newness of these will spark something in our midst to lead us forward in living the Christ like life. But how much of our ingenuity is spent by the time we get to the big questions of living the life of God on this terrestrial ball?

May I suggest we give much Holy-Spirit-inspired-time-and-energy to this worthy end? Let’s begin with the end in mind. What does a spiritually formed person look like, act like, is like? Then let us design our structure, all we do and teach to accomplish this design. Two passages should guide us here: The Sermon on the Mount (Matthew 5-7) and Galatians 5:22-25.  Beginning with this end in mind puts us on the same page as God is on from the beginning of time and finally fulfilled in Christ Jesus. This curriculum should be designed to show us that God is light without any darkness at all (1 John 1:5). It should also train us how to respond to life in the way of Christ automatically.

In the beginning God created us in his image. In the end he re-creates us in the image of his Son. Everything else stems from this and leads to this. Those who walk with the Master must set their face on the end God established from the beginning: You and I becoming reshaped in our character to be like our Master.

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