Orange Moon "The Current of Christlikeness" Part 1

The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…

 

"The Current of Christlikeness"

Part 1

 

    "Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord" (II Corinthians 3:18).

    "We shall be like Him for we shall see Him as He is" (I John 3:2).

 

     Note the means whereby believers become more like the Lord Jesus Christ in this life, and like Him completely in the next.  We behold His glory and "see Him as He is."  Little wonder then that the Apostle Peter calls born again believers to "grow in grace and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ" (II Peter 3:18).     

 

   As we learn more and more about our Savior in the pages of Scripture, we better realize God's purpose for our lives.  "Walk, even as He walked" (I John 2:6).  This presents the most daunting challenge, of course.  Even a cursory knowledge of the Lord Jesus drives the most confident heart to its knees in the realization of the spiritual and moral summit to which our Heavenly Father calls us.  In and of ourselves, we bear no feet for the journey.  No sane person believes he can independently be like Christ in character, nature, and way.  Thus, our first response to God's will in the matter must surely overwhelm us.  "When I saw Him, I fell at his feet as dead" (Revelation 1:17).

 

    Thankfully, our Lord Himself lifts us to our spiritual feet.  God did not make us to be like His Son according to our abilities and dedication, but rather by those of that same Son.  

 

   "Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying Abba Father… Be strong in the Lord, and in the power of His might… I can do all things through Christ which strengtheneth me" (Galatians 4:6; Ephesians 6:10; Philippians 4:13).

 

   The Christ whose image we are to bear is the Christ whose Spirit we bear in our hearts.  Through Him, we can become more spiritually and morally like Him in this earthly life, and just like Him in our Heavenly eternity.  This is God's holy purpose for all believers, and everything He He does in our lives flows with the current of Christlikeness.  Every blessing is meant to conform us more to the image of Christ.  Every challenge is determined or allowed by God for the same intention.  Every moment is measured by its capacity to fill us with the doctrinal and personal knowledge of the Lord Jesus in order to form His character, nature, and way in us.  The Apostle Paul confirmed this wondrous gift of our Father to our hearts, and we close with the blessed assurance…

 

"And we know that all things work together for good to them that love God, to them 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, that He might be the firstborn among many brethren."

(Romans 8:28-29)    

 

Weekly Memory Verse 

    "Beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, we are changed into the same image, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord."

(II Corinthians 3:18)

 

    

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

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