The Special of the Day… From the Orange Moon Cafe…
"Like Him"
Part 4 - Christ-centered… Christ-like
"Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of the LORD is risen upon thee."
(Isaiah 60:1)
That we require the presence, motivation, guidance, and enabling of Christ's indwelling life in order to be like Him does not mean we do not play a vital and active role in our relationship with God.
"Exercise thyself rather unto godliness" (I Timothy 4:7).
Faith and faithfulness to God do not simply happen in the believer's life. If such were the case, a large portion of the New Testament epistles would never have been written. Be it 1 Corinthians, Galatians, Colossians, Philemon, Hebrews, James, the letters of John, or the book of Revelation, inevitable godliness would have precluded the necessity of their challenging admonitions. We must respond to God in order to trust and obey Him, which the presence of the Holy Spirit within us makes possible. Before we trusted the Lord Jesus, we had no means for such faith and faithfulness - "without Me, ye can do nothing" (John 15:5). After the new birth, conversely, believers possess the means to "do the will of God from the heart" because "God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts" (Ephesians 6:6; Galatians 4:6).
Do we believe this about ourselves? We must. In fact, expectation based on the Scriptural promise of Christ's enabling presence serves a primary role in our faithfulness to Him. "My expectation is from Him" (Psalm 62:5). The New Testament clearly and frequently affirms that our Lord has superabundantly infused our spirits - "the power that worketh in us" - with the very presence of the Spirit of Christ (Ephesians 3:20). Failure to anticipate the leading and enabling of such grace sets us up for completely unnecessary failure. Indeed, no sadder indictment exists in Scripture than the distrust mentioned regarding the Lord Jesus' hometown, Capernaum: "He did not many mighty works there because of their unbelief" (Matthew 13:58). Believers, the spiritual home of the Lord Jesus, can become self- fulfilling prophecies of failure if we do not see ourselves as temples of the living God.
"Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" (I Corinthians 3:16).
"Reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord" (Romans 6:11).
Salvation in the Lord Jesus spiritually births our spirits, and makes possible the actualization of our minds, emotions, wills, and physical faculties with the very life of Christ. We must respond to the truth by faith, believing that such an indescribable magnitude of power for trust and obedience teems within us. Indeed, the Lord Jesus who made a physical creation vast beyond measure birthed a spiritual creation in our hearts of far greater magnitude when we trusted Him - "Christ in you, the hope of glory (Colossians 1:27; II Corinthians 5:17). In the light of such grace, He beckons our spirits to arise, our minds to think, our hands to work, and our feet to walk as empowered by His very life. Thereby, we shall be like Him, presently in growth and consistency, and one day, in perfection and "the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18).
Our human sensibilities ebb and flow, based on circumstance, situation, and condition. The spiritual fact of Christ's presence within us abides unchanging and ever active as He works in us "both to will and to do of His good pleasure" (Philippians 2:13). To be like Him in character, nature, and way must be our expectation, based not on ourselves, but on our perfectly faithful Lord. "Is He who He is? Is He where He is, namely, in our hearts? Does He work in us as He promises?" As we increasingly discover the answers to these vital and Christ-centered questions in the light of Scripture, Christ-likeness will ensue as "faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the Word of God" (Romans 10:17). Yes, to be like Him requires His indwelling presence - a fact in all who believe - and our response of faith and submission in the light of "so great salvation," as known in so great a Savior…
"Grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ."
(II Peter 3:18)
"Hearing of thy love and faith, which thou hast toward the Lord Jesus, and toward all saints, that the communication of thy faith may become effectual by the acknowledging of every good thing which is in you in Christ Jesus."
(Philemon 1:5-6)
Weekly Memory Verse
"Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is."
(I John 3:2)
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